1^ .'.o. '^ 







a V 



^' -•«^* /% ^'^-^ /% l^." /\ % 










vO^ »!.*°' '^^ 



4V ^ 



.<^' 










•a*' 





0* 












'bV 








•- "-.,<■' 



.' .^^'"^^. °.ril:f'-" ..'^'"-^. 



,■*.*.'""-• 










• • \ * N. J. ' . . 5 .0 

o V . %- -^ 



^ 



v^ 



O •■ „ „ o •* 













y °^ • " " " 




-^^ ^ 
^^^ 









COMPLIMENTS OF 



C. J. MURPHY 






REMINISCENCES 



OF TlIK 



WAR OF THE REBELLION, 



AND OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 



By CHARLES J. MURPHY, 

If 

48 Vesev Stkkv r. 



NEW YOKtC; 
F. J. FICK.ER, 7Q ANH 81 Wili i sm 

1882. 



■ \>.*-v;;So 




INTRODUCTION. 



Having a claim pending in Congress through a number of years past for 
twenty thousand dollars, the value of my property destroyed during the Re- 
bellion by our own troops, I was advised to put in shape and have printed 
any services of mine rendered during that war that would deserve any par- 
ticular mention, and which would assist me in my efforts to procure the pas- 
sage of the bill. 

It places me in a rather awkward position to be obliged to write of my- 
self in connection with my humble services, freely and cheerfully rendered 
in times of great peril, but I cannot help doing so, under the circumstances. 
I will, however, state my case as modestly as possible, and would only say 
that my regiment was the first to offer its services to the Government, making 
a most brilliant record during the two years of its time of service, and I never 
received or asked any favor at the hands of the Government since the close 
of the war. 

As my object is to show that I rendered some service during the war, 
and what I did outside of the line of duty was prompted by the love I bore 
for my fellow-man, my only regret being that I did not have the opportunity 
of doing more, I have always felt a great satisfaction ever since to think that 
it was in my power to assist, in a small degree, in alleviating the sufferings of 
our noble men who perilled life and limb in this terrible war to uphold the 
Union. 

On the news of the fall of Fort Sumpter in April, iS6i, I was then an 
officer and one of the founders of an organization called the Scott Life 
Guard, named after my old Commander-in-Chief, Gen'l Scott, and composed 
of those who served in the war with Mexico. We called a meeting on the 
day after the proclamation for 75,000 men by Mr. Lincoln, and were the first 
regiment to offer our services to the Government and were mustered in on 
the 3d day of June, and immediately started for Washington. I left my 
family and my business that was paying me an income of some $6,000 a year. 
In the first engagement of Bull Run I was unfortunate enough to be taken 



prisoner, and afterwards made my escape and reached Washington after se- 
vere trials and suffering, which is fully described by John S. C. Abbott, the 
historian, and would say that I am now a member in good standing of the fol- 
lowing organizations: Veteran Corps Seventh Regiment, N. Y. National Guard; 
Society 'of the Army of the Potomac; Rankin Post No. lo, Grand Army of the 
Republic ; Association of the Veterans of the Mexican War, of which organi- 
zation I have the honor to command as Marshal ; Col. Wm. Linn Tidball, 
President. We number among our comrades such distinguished men as Gen. 
Hancock, Hooker, Casey, ex-Governor Price of New Jersey, Admirals Rowan 
and Walke of the Navy, and other high officers of note. Am a member of the 
Associated Pioneers of the territorial days of California, in which State I was 
one of the earliest settlers, arriving in the first ship (the South Carolina) with 
passengers from New York, having gone there soon after the close of the 
Mexican war, arriving in 1849, and was one of the first party who camped at 
and established the city of Auburn, on the north fork of the American River. 
Mr. Halliday, since Judge in San Francisco, one of our company, naming the 
place. From San Francisco I went to Shanghai, China, and established the first 
American commercial house on the Chinese side of the Yang Kin Pang 
River, opposite the foreign or European quarter, at the junction of the Yang 
Tze Kiang River. 



i?,E3V[:i:N"iscJEisroEs 

OF THE 

Late War of the Rebellion. 

ALSO OF THE 

MEXICAN WAR. 

BY 

CHARLES J. MURPHY. 



Brief record of services copied from Mr. William Swinton's History of 
the 7th Regt., during the War. 

Charles J. Murphy. 
Entered the United States service in June, 1S61, as First Lieutenant. 
Took part in the first battle of Bull Run, serving in the ranks with a musket, 
and was specially noticed for gallantry by his superior officers. When the 
army retreated, he refused to leave, and remained, dressing the wounds of 
the wounded in his own and other regiments, and was captured, sent to Rich- 
mond, and thrust into prison. He devoted his whole time to caring for the 
wounded there until September, 1861, when he, with Colonels Raynor and 
Hurd, effected the daring escape famous at that time and since, and crossed 
Virginia alone to our lines. All the commissioned and non-commissioned 
officers of his regiment unite in a document, praising, in the highest terms, 
his "courage, humanity, and self-sacrifice." Six of the Surgeons at Sudley 
Church Hospital, in a public letter, to Mr. Lincoln, pronounced his devotion 
and activity at Bull Run " greater than that of any other five men." Gen- 
eral Shields wrote to the president that Lieutenant Murphy had, *' by 
his noble-hearted conduct as a prisoner, in aid of all the wounded troops, 
earned the praise of the whole army." Whereupon the President wrote : "If 
there be any vacancy of a captaincy in the Regular Army not already 
promised, let it be given to Charles J. Murphy." With this prospect, Lieu- 
tenant Murphy resigned his commission in his regiment. While awaiting the 
commission so indicated, he went as a volunteer to the Peninsula, and cared 
for hundreds of wounded, at his own expense, through the severe and trying 
campaign. He did service to the wounded on many fields thereafter, with- 
out rank or pay, and was mentioned in public documents in the highest terms 
by many officers and men of the Union Army. Surgeon Dunster wrote : 
"His services so freely rendered, in a time of the direst confusion and dis- 



tress, were of great value, and have received the grateful thanks of both the 
men he helped to care for and the officers whom he so nobly assisted." 
A soldier communicates a brief memorandum, as follows : " We were stran- 
gers, and he 'took us in ; naked, and he clothed us ; an hungered, and he 
gave usfood." 



I escaped from Richmond in September, '6i, in company with Col. Wm. 
H. Raynor of Ohio, and Col. Jno. R. Hurd of Kentucky, an account of 
which is graphically described by Jno. S. C. Abbott, the historian of the war^ 
in an article entitled "The Heroic Deeds of Heroic Men," published in the 
January, 1867, number of Harper's Magazine, and the following few extracts 
from the narrative will show the difficulties and privations of that ever-to-be 
remembered weary journey. The following letter from Mr. Abbott prompted 
me to hurriedly put together what I could remember, and from each other's 
account the history was written. 

New Haven, May ist, 1866. 
Col. C. J. Murphy: . 

My Dear Sir : 

I have now finished my account of " The 
Capture, The Imprisonment and The Escape," so far as I can finish it with- 
out your narrative. In the accounts which Colonels Hurd and Raynor have 
sent me they of course speak particularly of their own experiences, and you 
are mentioned incidentally. I wish to send the manuscript to the Harpers' as 
soon as I conveniently can, as it requires some time to get out the illustra- 
tions. Please send as soon as convenient what you have prepared, and also 
your photograph, as I wish to have the photograph of each connected with 
the article. 

I am yours truly, 

JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 



The Capture, Imprisonment, and Escape. 

Capture of Colonel Hurd ; of Colonel Raynor ; of Colonel 
Murphy. — Life in Prison. — Anecdotes. — The Escape 
FROM Prison. — Wanderings through the Wilder- 
ness. — Perils and Sufferings. — Reaching 
the Potomac. — The Crossing. — Adven- 
tures IN Maryland. — Received on 
Board United States Cutter. 
— Arrival in Washington. 



In the summer of i86i three young patriot officers found themselves 
fellow-captives of war within the gloomy walls of the old tobacco-warehouse, 
in Richmond. One of these, Colonel J. R. Hurd, then Captain, was a Ken- 
tuckian, faithful found among many faithless. The love of adventure had 
lured him in very early years from his home, and, reveling in the wild and 
semi-barbaric life of a frontiersman, he had become inured to hardship, peril 
and self-reliance. 

As Ave have mentioned, Colonels Hurd and Raynor had been companions 
and friends in childhood. They now became inseparable. Through a friend- 
ly guard they obtained a few yards of calico, and some cotton and thread, 
with which they made a quilt, which, with a block of wood for their pillow, 
constituted their only bed. Mr. Murphy was regarded as a surgeon by the 
rebels, and was consequently allowed, under close surveillance, to visit the 
hospitals where our wounded were languishing. He was thus enabled to con- 
tribute very much not only to their relief, but to the aid of his suffering com- 
panions in the warehouse. In one of these hospitals he found Mrs. Major- 
•General Ricketts, who had heroically consented to become a prisoner-of-war 
that she might attend upon her wounded husband. This noble woman moved 
through the sad wards of that hospital at Richmond an angel of mercy, an- 
other Florence Nightingale, sharing the misery she attempted to alleviate. 
Officers and soldiers alike were cheered by her tender hand and her sympa- 
thizing heart. " She was obliged," writes Mr. Murphy, " to quarter in the 
same room with her husband and some six other officers, with only a small 
shawl used as a screen to shield her from observation." 

And here we cannot refrain from paying a brief tribute of respect and 
gratitude to the Sisters of Mercy, who were untiring, day and night, in their 
devotion to the sufferers. They asked no questions whether the patient were 



6 

on this side or that in the strife. The fact that there was a brother before 
them bleeding, fainting, perhaps dying, moved all their sympathies, and, with 
humanity ennobled and intensified by Christian faith, they devoted themselves 
as taught by their Lord, to the relief of those who were sick and in prison. 

With every prisoner the all- engrossing thought was how to escape. Many 
plans were suggested, pondered, and abandoned. Numerous attempts were 
made, nearly all of which failed. Some succeeded in getting out of the city, 
and one found his heart throbbing as he caught sight of the star-spangled 
banner, when he was cruelly seized by rebel scouts and dragged back to 
bondage. Captain Hurd was a man of immense physical energy, and was en- 
dowed with nerve and resolution to brave any peril and to endure any priva- 
tion. The risk of recapture was so very great, and the penalty so severe in 
being brought back and confined in irons, that it required great courage and 
almost recklessness to make the endeavor. 

In the mean time all conceivable measures were adopted to beguile the 
weary hours. One mode of pastime was the organization of a society called 
the Richmond Prison Association. Mr. Ely was President. The Societymet 
three times a week. Each member was bound to contribute to the general 
entertainment, either by a declamation, a story, or by singing a song. The 
meetings were conducted in strict accordance with parliamentary rules. They 
held also mock-trials. There was one very serious case brought forward of 
" breach of promise." Captain Hurd was the aggrieved maiden. The faith- 
less swain gave his name to the Court as Lieutenant Jawbones. Colonel 
Woodruff and Mr. Huston were counsel for the plaintiff. Major Potter and 
the Chaplain of the Fifth Maine Regiment appeared for the defendant. Mr. 
Ely was judge. The argument of the opposing counsel and the charge filled 
the gloomy old prison with such peals of merriment as to help the prisoners, 
for the moment, to be oblivious of their misery. 

As the days lingered along, and the hope of release by exchange grew 
darker, their minds became prepared for more desperate endeavors for escape. 
There were a large number of the prisoners, sick or wounded, distributed 
through buildings called hospitals in close proximity. But one surgeon was 
detailed for about seven hundred men. The suffering was ^so terrible that 
several Union surgeons who were prisoners, were, at their earnest solicita- 
tions, permitted to assist. Upon giving their parole they were provided with 
a red rosette, and were permitted to pass from one prison to another, and al- 
so to go about the city. Among these, as we have mentioned, was Colonel 
Murphy. But he had been deprived of the right in consequence of his earn- 
est endeavors to meliorate the condition of the sufferers. 

Colonel Hurd had now resolved at whatever risk, to attempt his es- 
cape. At night he whispered his intention to Colonel Raynor. After 



anxious deliberation the plan which tliey settled upon was to adopt the 
disguise of surgeons, and in the dusk of the- evening to pass the guard. They 
were all to meet at a designated corner, which could be seen from the prison 
windows, and then trust to circumstances. Colonel Murphy also joined 
them. Fortunately Colonel Hurd had a red flannel shirt, from which they 
cut their rosettes which they were to pin upon the breast of their coats. The 
few men who were informed of their plan earnestly endeavored to dissuade 
them, saying that it was a fool-hardy undertaking, and that they would be 
brought back and placed in irons. Colonel Raynor was to go first, between 
five and six o'clock in the evening. The other two were to follow at eight. 
Anxiety of mind deprived the Colonel of all appetite for dinner. He dressed 
himself as well as possible for nights of exposure in the swamps, and at the 
appointed hour, with throbing heart, but with calm exterior, walked up to the 
guard, who sat on a tobacco box at the .door with his bayonet gun extended 
across it. With marvelous coolness the feigned surgeon raised the gun. The 
guard looked at the rosette, nodded, and the prisoner passed out. One can 
can hardly read the account without holding "lis breath. Who can imagine 
the emotions which must have agitated the principal actor in this scene, and 
his friends who were looking on ? 

The guard turned his eye toward the escaping captive, as though a mo- 
mentary suspicion had been aroused. One of his friends called out, " Doc- 
tor, don't forget those pills ; I must take some to night ! " "All right !" said 
the Colonel, "I'll get them !" Another guard was to be passed, who merely 
glanced at the rosette, and the Colonel continued his walk. He was now 
free. But he was surrounded by perils most imminent, and weary leagues 
were to be traversed, and days and nights of hunger, cold, and exposure were 
to be endured before he could reach the lines of the Union army. He had 
gone but a few steps when he met one of the offlcers of the prison guard. 
With an erect head, and looking him steadfastly in the face, the Colonel 
passed. 

With many sagacious precautions to avoid exciting suspicion, he suc- 
ceeded in purchasing a compass to guide their path through the woods, a 
map of Virginia, a lot of matches, and a bed-cord. He then returned to the 
vicinity of the prison, where he fortunately met Dr. LeBoutillier, of the Sec- 
ond Minnesota, who passed in and out upon his parole. By him he sent 
word to his friends Hurd and Murphy of his success and that he would meet 
them at their appointed rendezvous. 

Let us now return into the prison. Hurd and Murphy stood at the win- 
dow watching the movements of their comp«.nion, as he went out, with such 
intensity of anxiety that they could almost feel the fevered pulsations of their 
hearts. Two long hours of terrible suspense passed away. The question. 



8 

almost more fearful than that of death, for it was freedom or the dungeon, 
was soon to be decided. While absorbed in these reflections, two rebel of- 
ficers were admitted, who had some trouble to persuade the guard to pass 
them out. 

Colonel Neff, with sympathetic sorrow, came to the young adventurers and 
said, "Your chance is gone. You must give it up." "Perhaps not," Colonel 
Hurd replied, his cheek blanched with emotion, but not with fear ; "howev- 
er it is too late to falter ; I will make the trial." The gallant Colonel Cor- 
coran came to them and said : " Be careful, and may success attend you !" 
Colonel Sprague addressed them in words of cheer, saying, " Were I a young 
man I would go with you. Be vigilant and may you get safely through! and 
then let the people know the truth about us." 

The two young men, with their surgeon's badges, then walked carelessly 
toward the door, chatting with those around them. The whole programme 
had been carefully arranged. "Come, Doctor," exclaimed Lieutenant Mur- 
phy, in a voice loud enough to arrest the attention of the guard, " it is time 
for us to go ?" " Yes, I will be with you in a moment," was the reply. At 
the same time Colonel Corcoran, Sprague, and others gathered around re- 
questing the pretended doctors to purchase some tobacco for them. Ar- 
rangements had also been made for some of their comrades to answer to 
their names at roll-call for several days, till many miles should be placed be- 
tween the fugitives and their prison. The guard was thoroughly deceived. 
They passed out without opposition. The last words they heard from their 
dismal prison as they entered the streets was the kindly voice of Colonel 
Sprague calling out to them, "Doctor, don't forget to bring me that tobac- 
co. I need it very much !" 

Colonel Raynor was an.xiously watching in the street. He saw in the 
dusk two figures come out of the prison, whom he at once recognized as his 
looked-for comrades. He followed them a few moments unobserved, and 
then stepping up, tapped each on the shoulder. A shudder of alarm shook 
their frames as the' apprehended that it was the hand of an arresting officer. 
The peril was yet too imminent to allow of any hearty rejoicing. Still, as 
they pressed along the crowded streets they assumed the swaggering air of 
Southerners, talking loudly and laughing. Emerging from the city they 
struck a broad road running to the northeast, and after walking about two 
miles encountered a toll-gate guarded by a squad of soldiers. The night was 
dark, with drizzling rain. Fortunately they were not observed, though some 
dogs took the alarm, and commenced furiously barking. 

They threw themselves flat upon the ground as they saw the door of the 
toll-house open and soldiers come out. Creeping back several hundred yards 
through a ditch they concealed themselves near a breast-work, where they 



9 

heard several shots. Remaining perfectly still for a couple of hours, they, by 
a circuitous route, passed around the gate, struck the pike a mile beyond, 
and traveled rapidly all night. They often heard wagons approaching. These 
they eluded by leaving the road and hiding in the bushes or behind the fences 
until the market-carts, on the way to the city, had passed. Several times 
they were very near being discovered by the dogs which invariably accom- 
panied these carts. At about four o'clock in the morning they passed a small 
hamlet, where the dogs raised an outcry sufficient to awake every sleeper 
within a mile. Hurrying through along the main road they soon found it 
bearing so far east that they entered a sort of wood-path which led north. 
The roar of a passing railroad train informed them that the railroad was close 
by them on the left. The dawn of morning was now beginning to appear. 
They entered the woods, and creeping under some thick, wet bushes, thor- 
oughly exhausted and soaked, they fell soundly asleep. 

Soon after sunrise of Friday, September 6, they were all suddenly and 
simultaneously aroused by the crack of a whip at their ears, which sounded 
like the report of a pistol. Greatly alarmed they looked up and beheld a 
teamster passing so near that he could have touched them with his whip. In 
the darkness they had lain down jwst on the edge of a road leading through 
the forest. But the teamster did not chance to turn his eyes toward the 
thicket, and they escaped unseen. But it was necessary immediately to 
change their position. After a brief consultation they cautiously took up 
their line of march in true military order. 

Colonel Raynor led the advance, with the ordnance stores, consisting of 
a compass, a map, and a box of matches. Lieutenant Murphy followed with 
the commissariat of two sandwiches. Colonel Hurd brought up the rear in 
charge of the engineering department, with the supplies of a jack-knife and a 
bed-cord. As Colonel Hurd was familiar with all the wild and perilous ad- 
ventures of frontier life, and was a man of indomitable energy and bravery, 
it would have seemed natural that he, with his engineering tools, should have 
led the march. But being not so quick of hearing as Colonel Raynor, it was 
deemed best that he should compose the rear-guard. C^'onel Murphy had 
been city-bred, and thus not being familiar with woodcraft, manifestly the 
judicious post for him to occupy was the centre. 

The plan of their perilous campaign was as follows : They were to travel 
as rapidly as possible through the night, hide in some thicket by day, never 
moving forward by daylight unless under cover of some dense forest, or 
through some of the spacious corn-fields, which afforded excellent shelter ; 
they were never to enter a house, or to allow a single human being to see 
them if they could avoid it. They had resolved, though unarmed, to fight 
against any odds, and to sell their lives as dearly as possible rather than to be 
recaptured. 



10 

With stiffened limbs and wet clothes our adventurers were cautiously- 
moving to find some safer place of concealment for the day, when they were 
startled by the report of a gun very near, and a man Avas seen approaching 
directly toward them. With throbbing hearts they concealed themselves as 
best they could. The man stooped, picked up the squirrel which he had 
shot, calmly reloaded his gun, and gazing into the tree-tops for game, passed 
slowly along and soon disappeared in the forest, indicating his greater dis- 
tance. Thus this danger was escaped. 

At ten o'clock, all traveling having apparently ceased, the night being 
very dark, with only an occasional star visible, they again entered the road. 
Just before midnight they came to the Chickahominy,which they crossed by a 
mill-dam, over which there was but i shallow depth of water. The road 
crossed by a ford a little distance below. Regaining the highway they pressed 
on for a few miles until they saw several lights twinkling at a little distance 
before them. It was pjobably an encampment of soldiers. They immedi- , 
ately turned into the woods, assailed by the yelping of the omnipresent dog. 
Giving the lights a wide berth, they found themselves in a field of potatoes, 
both sweet and common. Starving as they were they eagerly filled their 
stomachs and their pockets with the raw potatoes, which they found not un- 
palatable. Upon leaving this field they entered one of corn, and they added 
a few ears to the commissariat stores. 

Guided by their compass, and availing themselves of roads only when 
they led in a right direction, they at length found themselves bewildered 
amidst the paths of a large plantation. The blowing of the horns to awaken 
the negro to his daily toil warned them that it was near daylight, and that 
they were in no little danger of being encountered by some gang marching to 
their work. Being quite exhausted, and finding two logs near together, they 
all three laid down between them, and slept soundly until the morning of 
Saturday the 7th. 

Colonel Kurd's impetuous nature could not brook a moment's delay. 
Inured to hardship he seemed insensible to fatigue. His companions noticed 
that the strongest motive'which seemed to impel him onward was the fear that 
his regiment, in which he was then a Captain, might get into a fight before 
he reached it. Murphy, not accustomed to such privations and toils, was 
now suffering very severely. His feet were swollen, his strength exhausted, 
and it was with great pain and difficulty that he could limp along. Colonel 
Hurd was just as fresh as at the outset, and Colonel Raynor's vigorous frame 
bore up wonderfully. The solace with which Colonel Hurd, as he tramped ' 
along, endeavored to cheer his companions was not very satisfactory. 

" Oh, this is nothing!" he exclaimed, " this is nothing !" Wait till you 
have lived on mule's meat twenty-seven days among the Rocky Mountains, 
with the snow four feel deep, and then you may have reason to complain." 



11 

Toiling on they reached the limits of the forest, and crossing a fine gravel 
pike leading to the northwest, they passed through a cornfield, whose tall and 
waving stalks completely sheltered them, and entered another belt of timber 
and found themselves upon the banks of a large, rapid, unbridged river, swol- 
len by the recent rains. It was the Pamunky. There was no boat to be 
found ; but there were half floating logs scattered here and there along the 
bank. Colonel Raynor cut the bed-cord into convenient lengths and waded 
into the water, while his comrades brought him logs, which he tied together 
and made a small raft. The air swarmed with mosquitoes, huge black tor- 
mentors, who instantly settled, with their poisonous sting, upon any exposed 
portion of the body. Colonel Raynor was terribly bitten. The inflammation 
was so immediate and severe from the deep puncture of their bills that his 
comrades declared that they could not have recognized him. 

As soon as their small raft was constructed they placed their clothes upon 
it. Colonel Hurd tied one end of the cord around his body and took the lead 
swimming. The other two swam, pushing behind. Colonel Raynor wrapped 
his watch, map, compass, and matches in a handkerchief and bound them 
upon the top of his head, not caring to trust treasure so precious to a frail 
raft. The mosquitoes followed them unrelentingly in clouds. Safely they 
effected the passage of the swift, turbid stream, and found a fringe of timber, 
on the northern bank. Breaking up their raft, and carefully preserving the 
pieces of cord, they followed along the edge of the stream until they entered 
an extensive forest, where, in a very secluded ravine, they ventured to kindle 
a small fire and roast twelve small potatoes, about the size of walnuts, and two 
ears of corn. 

They had travelled all day foodless. Another dark night was at hand, 
through whose gloomy hours they must grope along as rapidly as possible. 
Colonel Murphy's exhausted condition seemed to demand a little rest. But 
no reply could be made to Kurd's renewed asseveration, " This is nothing to 
living on mule's meat twenty days among the Rocky Mountain, with the snow 
four feet deep. Besides," he added, " I would rather lose my right arm than 
to have my company get into a fight before I get back to them," 

Again these indomitable men, with strength almost miraculously pre- 
served, took up their line of march. It was important to get through the 
forest and to strike some road before dark, as it was impossible to make much 
headway through the woods in the night. Following a small stream, which 
Tan through a deep ravine, about an hour before sunset they came in sight 
of the open country. Just then they heard, very near them, a shot, followed 
by the barking of a dog. Colonel Raynor exclaims, with good reason, " I 
have hated dogs ever since this trip." They were very apprehensive that the 
sagacious animal would detect them. As the hunter was on the same side of 



12 

the ravine with them tliey hastily recrossed, and had just concealed themselves, 
in a thicket, when two other shots showed that he had crossed also and was 
approaching them. As they thought it almost certain that the dog would dis- 
cover them they decided, after a hurried consultation, to capture the hunter, 
take his arms, gag and tie him fast, and then, as soon as dark, to leave the 
neighborhood as rapidly as possible. Colonel Raynor, who was a very pow- 
erful man, was to strangle the dog. Fortunately for all the young man turned 
his steps away from them, and they saw him retire to a house not far distant. 

Our adventurers remained in their retreat until lo o'clock at night when 
they visited a barn, hoping to obtain something to eat. Here to their great joy. 
they found a lot of unthreshed wheat, and they filled their pockets with the ears. 
It was very dark, and as they were groping about Raynor felt some animal rub- 
bing its nose against his leg. It was a large dog. But the brute manifested no 
hostility. Hurd proposed that they should kill and eat it, saying that it 
must be as good as "mule's meat." But Murphy, as he champed a mouthful 
of wheat, suggested that they had better wait until they had been "in the 
Rocky Mountains twenty-seven days, with the snow four feet deep." 

The dog accompanied them to the confines of the plantation and then 
quietly returned to his home. It was now Saturday night the 7th. Moving 
as rapidly as their exhausted limbs would allow along the road, a little after 
midnight they sat down for a moment's rest by the roadside. Their exhaus- 
tion was such that they almost instantly fell asleep. They were aroused by a 
wagon rattling furiously by, which impelled them again to take to their feet, 
as it was necessary that they should find some place of concealment before 
the light of day should be around them. As they toiled along, Raynor in 
advance, Hurd in the rear, the indomitable frontiersman cheered his ex- 
hausted comrade, who composed the centre of their line of march, with 
sundry pleasantries, interluded with allusions to "mule's meat," "Rocky 
Mountains," "twenty-seven days," and "four feet of snow." 

Dawn was novv approaching. They took shelter in some thick Avoods, 
and after sleeping soundly a couple of hours, were awakened by the bright 
Sabbath sun shining in their faces. They picked the kernels of wheat out 
of the ears, with which their pockets were stuffed, and made a frugal break- 
fast. Under cover of the forest they pressed along until they reached its 
limits, when they saw before them a small orchard. Half-famished as they 
were the desire to get some fruit was so strong that, notwithstanding the 
risk of discovery, they entered it. The few small sour apples which they 
found were so refreshing that Mr. Murphy's spirits were revived ; and Col- 
onel Hurd, for the whole forenoon, made no allusions to the "Rocky 
Mountains." 

As they left the orchard they beheld an open, thickly-settled country 



13 

before them. There was, however, a dense forest in view, which promised 
ample shelter. But it could only be reached by crossing an open field, with 
a large house on each side, and many people moving around. Much valu- 
able time would be lost by remaining where they were until night. To 
attempt to cross the field in open day would expose them to inevitable 
observation and probably to recapture. After a very careful reconnoisance 
they observed a small depression through the field, along which a man might 
possibly creep without being seen from the houses, though one half of his 
body would be exposed should he stand erect. Colonel Kurd's desire to 
join his company "before they had a fight" overcame Colonel Murphy's 
exhaustion and Colonel Raynor's sound judgment, and throwing themselves 
flat upon their faces, they wormed their way through the field and gained 
the friendly shelter of the woods. 

Finding a corn-field they plucked some ears, and, retiring to a wild 
ravine, they built a fire and prepared themselves a very savory repast of 
roasted corn. In traversing a swamp soon after they found their desert 
prepared for them in the shape of about half a pint of whortleberries. The 
spacious cornfields, with their thick, tall spires afforded them far better pro- 
tection even than the densest forest. As they were threading one ot these 
fields a party of negroes passed very near them. 

Emerging from the corn-field they struck a shallow stream, which was 
sunk deep beneath its banks. They waded down the pebbly bed of the 
stream, until they reached the banks of a large river, the Mattapony. Fol- 
lowing the forest-fringed banks of this stream for about a mile they 
watched their chance, and, crossing by a bridge, plunged into a low, marshy 
piece of timber. The utmost circumspection was needed, for many parties 
were seen on the road moving to and fro. Here they found mosquitoes in 
myriads, and the torment which the venemous insects created was almost 
insupportable. It was now about four o'clock on the afternoon of the 
Sabbath. Notwithstanding the sufferings they endured from their swarming 
foes, who bit through their clothes, they did not dare to leave the place of 
their concealment until dark, for white men and negroes were constantly 
passing. 

Night came on, not merely dark, but black. With the utmost difficulty 
could they grope along the road. They met a man. It was too dark to 
see him. His footsteps and the rustle of his garments alone rendered his 
presence palpable. Indeed, the man ran plump against Colonel Hurd, who, 
as we have said, brought up the rear. There was nothing to excite suspi- 
cion, and the probable rebel and the patriot each passed on his way. 

About midnight it grew a little lighter, and they reached one of those 
groups of houses which in the South are called villages. They were not a little 



14 

perplexed to know where they were. Seeing a notice tacked upon a door they 
carefully tore it off, retreated into the woods, and lighted a piece of candle 
which Colonel Murphy carried through the whole trip. It proved to be a 
notice that the estate of General Garnett, who was killed at Rich Mountain, 
was to be sold. It convinced them that they were at Bowling Green, in 
Caroline County. They then examined their map, and laid their course to 
strike the Potomac at its nearest point. 

Rapidly they pressed along the road until about 3 o'clock in the 
morning, when they again struck into the woods, and finding a good place 
for concealment they all lay down and went to sleep. But scarely had they 
closed their eyes ere they were aroused by the clatter of several horsemen 
passing at a full trot on the road near by, not improbably rebel scouts in 
pursuit of the fugitives. Indeed, the Richmond papers had announced 
that such vigorous measures had been put in operation for the capture of the 
fugitives, Colonels Hurd, Murphy, and Raynor, that it was scarcely within 
the limits of possibility that they could escape. 

Removing deeper into the woods they slept soundly for a few hours in 
sweet oblivion of pursurers and throbbing feet. Their sufferings from sore 
feet were more terrible than can be described or imagined. The two months 
in prison had rendered their feet very tender. Being half of the time wet 
and in contant use they were blistered and raw. Colonel Murphy's feet 
Avere in a dreadful condition, and Colonel Raynor's nearly as bad. Colonel 
Hurd seem to possess marvelous en*durance. 

When they awoke next morning, Monday, September 9th, a dense fog 
had settled down over the whole county. Colonel Raynor led, compass in 
hand, the others following close behind. Entering a corn-field they filled 
their pockets, and passed a gang of negroes but a few yards from them, 
though the fog was so thick that they could not be seen. Protected by this 
friendly veil they fearlessly entered the road, relying upon their ears to give 
warning of the approach of danger. They walked barefooted and made no 
noise. Several streams they crossed on bridges. Though they could hear 
the cackling of chickens and the voices of people, indicating dwellings all 
around them, they were effectually shielded from observation. Having 
walked thus about twelve miles on the open road, about noon the fog began 
to lift and again they took to the woods. They lay down and slept under a 
clump of bushes during the afternoon. ' About sunset they were roused 
from their sleep by a negro boy who passed close by them calling for the 
cows. 

As soon as the young moon had gone down they resumed the road, and 
at about an hour before midnight they reached a small village. At the out- 
skirts there was a guide-board at the junction of the roads. Hurd and 



15 

Murphy raised Raynor on their shoulders, who pulled off the board, and 
then they went into a thicket where they could safely strike a light to read 
the direction. It was with great difficulty that they could ignite the matches, 
which the fog had damped. After a dozen unsuccessful efforts, just as a 
match gave out its brilliant flash, illuminating every object near, they saw a 
man standing within three feet of them. It was probably a slave skulking 
about. The match instantly went out. But the terrified slave was heard 
rushing through the bushes, leaping the fences, and fiying in the utmost 
dismay, as if he had seen an apparition of fiends and they were pursuing 
him. 

A glance at the guide-board told them that it was twenty miles to Tap- 
pahannock, and twenty-two to Bowling Green. Having their position ihus 
accurately defined, cheered by hope, and refreshed by the nap which they 
had enjoyed in the afternoon, they pushed rapidly on over the road, though 
to two of them every step was torture. 

Just before light they came to a large plantation where the people were 
up. This compelled them again to plunge into the woods, where, after the 
toilsome travel of the night, hungry, thirsty, torn, and foot-sore, they hid 
under some bushes for rest. 

After a few hours of sleep they awoke. It was Tuesday the loth. A 
careful reconnoissance showed them that they were in a small grove of about 
three acres, surrounded by the most highly cultivated and densely populated 
country they had yet seen. It was manifest that they could not safely leave 
their covert until night. Rest and sleep they greatly needed. But the sleep 
which with drooping eyelids they strove to gain was driven from them by 
their intense thirst. In half delirious dreams they saw the fountains of fresh 
water and tables groaning with delicious food. 

There were so many people moving about that they did not venture to 
leave their hiding-place until about nine o'clock, when the moon went down 
and most of the people were in their beds. They then cautiously started out. 
They were all barefoot. The bottom of each foot was raw flesh, an entire 
sore from heel to toe. They had previously cut holes in their boots where- 
ever they pinched. This had let in sand and water and mud, and their feet 
were in a state which can not be described. And yet in this condition they 
were traveling in their zigzag course, through swamps and forests in the gloom 
of night, often without food and without water, an average of forty miles 
every twenty-four hours. We have read of suffering, of endurance, of hero- 
ism, elsewhere. But greater than this, exhibited by these heroic patriots,, . 
escaping from the fiendish spirit of treason and rebellion, we know not where 
to find. 



16 

"Our thirst," Colonel Raynor writes, " overpowered the pain in our feet, 
and good time was made. We traveled several miles before any water was found; 
and that was nothing but a * hog-wallow,' yet it tasted sweet." Soon after 
they came upon a cool running stream. "Ah," exclaimed Colonel Ray- 
nor, "how few truly know what real hunger or thirst is ! Yet we were less 
than thirty-six hours without water." 

About one o'clock in the morning of Wednesday the nth, they caught 
sight of the Rappahannock. The agitating question of how they were to cross 
the river, which was here a mile wide, banished fatigue. The wind was blow- 
ing so freshly that they could not cross on a frail raft ; and they were too 
much exhausted to construct one. They, however, pressed on, and soon 
came in sight of a straggling village of six or eight houses on the banks. 
They crept noiselessly through the silent street to the water's edge, and there, 
to their inexpressible joy, they found a skiff with paddles drawn up upon the 
beach out of reach of the tide. Their united strength was just sufficient to 
shove it into the water. Not a moment was lost in embarking, and they soon 
reached the opposite shore. They then set it adrift that it might not reveal 
the line of their escape. Our adventurers desire here to present their thanks 
to the owner of the skiff for its use, and their hope that in good time he 
gained possession of it again. Colonel Murphy had accidentally, in the 
excitement of pushing off the boat, left his shoes upon the opposite bank. 
Raynor and Hurd had fortunately kept theirs with them. 

The gloom of night soon enveloped them, and the wind was high. They 
found an old shed which they entered, and thus protected from the wind they 
struck a light and examined their map. They judged that ten miles, in a 
direct line, would take them through Westmoreland County to the Potomac. 
This cheering prospect nerved them with renewed energies. They soon 
found a good road running east. But it was of hard, rough clay, which tore 
Murphy's lacerated feet terribly. Still he hobbled on, though unable at 
times to repress his groans. Colonel Hurd seemed to have nerves of steel, 
and was ever urging haste. Colonel Raynor was so weary that he could 
scarcely lift one foot in advance of the other, and found himself falling asleep 
as he toiled on with strength every hour growing weaker. Still they did not 
rest until daylight, when they left the road and sought concealment in a small 
piece of woods. After a short nap in a thicket, impatience to reach the Poto- 
mac, now so near, again aroused them. Just as they were about to start a 
negro thrust his face into the thicket close to them and commenced calling 
for his cows. It seems as though he must have seen them, though he said 
nothing, but went on his way shouting " Sukee, Sukee," at the top of his 
voice. 



17 

They immediately struck out, by the compass, northeast through the 
woods. It was the morning of Thursday the 12th. The brush-briers and 
thorns lacerated Murphy's bare and gory feet terribly. Some of the vines 
must have poisoned them, for they were fearfully inflamed and swollen. Every 
few moments he would fall from exhaustion and pain. Still he hobbled along, 
his faithful companions refusing to abandon him. Soon they came upon one 
of those immense swamps with which Eastern Virginia abounds. It extended 
in all directions as far as the eye could reach. Here was indeed a dilemma. 
None of them could endure the thought of the dreary miles they must travel 
in the endeavor to pass around the vast morass. Should they plunge into 
it, there was great danger that in their extreme exhaustion they all might per- 
ish in its miry bottom. After anxious deliberation the proposition of Col- 
onel Hard was adopted that they should attempt to force their way through. 
As there were many encampments of Confederate soldiers in the vicinity the 
attempt to go around would expose them to almost inevitable capture. In 
response to the proposition Raynor said, " Well, go ahead and we will follow." 
Hurd started, and the first step plunged him in mud and water up to the waist. 
The swamp was about three-quarters of a mile broad, partially covered with 
a rank growth of reeds and water-lilies without trees or brush. Sometimes 
they would be not more than knee-deep in the slimy ooze. The next step 
would plunge them to the arm-pits, and then they would encounter a pool of 
the green, stagnant, stenchful slough, through v/hich they half waded, half 
swam. 

In an hour they reached the dry land on the other side, and ascending a 
slight eminence sat down to rest. For the first time a cloud of despondency 
seemed to be gathering even upon Colonel Kurd's brow. Despairingly they 
gazed for a moment into each other's faces, and not a word was uttered. But 
suddenly Hurd jumped up, exclaiming : " Why, boys, I have lived twenty- 
seven days in the Rocky Mountains on mule's meat, with the snow four feet 
deep, and this is nothing to that !" 

This started them all again. They passed a deserted garden, where they 
found a few green tomatoes and a ripe cucumber. "I can testify," one of 
their number writes, " that a ripe cucumber raw does not taste good even to 
a hungry man." Ascending the brow of a hill they saw the broad, silvery 
waters of the Potomac in the distance, with the blue line of the Maryland 
shore barely discernible beyond. Few can imagine the emotions which this 
-sight enkindled in the bosoms of these weary wanderers. More than one 
silent prayer of gratitude ascended to that Providence which had protected 
them thus far. Tears of joy dimmed the eyes of these men whom no woes 
could compel to v.-eep. They now entered a corn-field, and with decided 
relish ate of the green ears. 



18 

old hf '^% f r "''' '}" '"■'' '^'^ '''^' "P°" ' g^°"P °f "^^°es near a 
old house all fallen to decay, leaving but the chimney standing. There vv. 
a marble slab near bearing this inscription : " On this spot was born Georc 
Washington, February 22, 1732." ^ 

They came upon the negroes so suddenly that there was no chance fc 
a retreat. So making a virtue of necessity, they walked boldly forward, an> 
told the negroes very truly that they had been lost in the woods for man 
days and were almost starved. The kind-hearted slaves gave them the re 
mainder of their breakfast, which consisted of a small lump of corn-bread an 
about two ounces of fat. 

Just then a white man, probably their over-seer, rode up and gazed i; 

apparent astonishment upon the fugitives in their ragged and forlorn cond£ 

tion. They represented to him that they had been lost in the woods, and tha 

. they wished to get over the river to recruit soldiers. He scrutinized then 

quite suspiciously, and said, " Mr. Wilson has a boat, and it is the only on, 

this side of Mathias Point; but I don't think he will let j.« take it '' wit! 

especial emphasis on the " you." He then rode on. As they approached the 

creek, which was here quite wide, and about a mile from its entrance into thr 

river, they saw a negro coming across in a canoe or " dug-out " Hiding ir 

the corn, they waited until he tied the boat and threw the paddle in the gras' 

upon the bank. As soon as he was out of sight they took the boat and com- 

menced paddling down the creek. It blew almost a gale, the hollowed lo. 

was but about twelve feet long, and when all three were in the gunwale wa' 

not more than an inch above the water. It was evidently impossible to cros^ 

the storm-swept Potomac in so frail a bark. Near the mouth of the creek 

they saw a negro fishing in a little larger boat, but one in which no sane man 

would think of encountering the heavy seas then running in the river, which 

was here over six miles wide. 

They compelled the negro to exchange boats with them. He remonstra- 
ted piteously, saying, '' Massa will kill me when I get home for doin- it - 
Colonel Hurd replied, "But I shall kill you here and now, if you do not do 
It The poor slave yielded, but said, " You'll neber get over in dis storm, 
Massa, neber, neber !" 

They paid the negro three dollars in Confederate money, as boot in the 
compulsory exchange. The skiff had no rowlocks or thole-pins, was very frail 
and leaked badly. Just as they were starting the negro shouted out to them 
Go starn fo'most, Massa, starn fo'most ; dat's de safest way." They fol- 
lowed his advice. But for this sagacity of the negro the boat would inevita- 
bly have been swamped, and they all would have perished. 

As soon as they had left the shelter of the bank and felt the full force of 
the wind the waves began to pour in above the sides of the boat, and it seemed 



19 

inevitable that they must be swamped. But to return to the shore was not to 
be thought of. There was evidently quite a commotion there. The owner of 
the skiff was on the bank calling upon them to return the boat, and the over- 
seer whom they had met on horseback was eagerly watching them. The sea 
now ran so high that when in the trough of the waves the tops of the trees on 
either banks could not be seen. 

Their safe passage of the river under such circumstances seems almost 
miraculous. By going stern foremost the bows of the boat cut the on-rush- 
ing billows, and throwing them on each side prevented their breaking into the 
boat. In about short three hours after leaving the Virginia shore they were 
approaching the Maryland side at the mouth of the Wicomic Creek. There 
is here an extensive bar, over which the waves were dashing furiously, throw- 
ing the spray many feet into the air. It was low-water, and the spectacle 
of danger was terrific. 

Just then a huge crested billow swept them far up the bar and nearly 
filled the boat. They leaped out, dragged the boat over the bar, and found 
themselves safe in comparatively still \vater. Soon they reached a fishing 
sloop within the creek, Captain Faunce, of Washington City. Being satisfied 
that the vessel could not be there unless its owner were loyal, they Avent fear- 
lessly on board, told their story, and were received with great hospitality. The 
kind-hearted fishermen served up for their hungry guests a luxurious repast of 
fish and oysters, and gave them beds to sleep on. Tears filled the eyes of the 
good old Captain when he looked at Murphy's feet ; and he would not allow 
his guests to leave the boat until the next morning, though Colonel Hurd was 
anxious to land and walk through Maryland to Washington, declaring that he 
was "not tired." 

The next morning, Friday, the 13th, they took leave of their kind host, 
and set out in their skiff to skirt the Maryland shore until they should meet 
some one of the blockading squadron which would convey them to Washing- 
ton. Captain Faunce advised them not to trust any of the inhabitants along 
the coast, as they were rank rebels, until reaching Lower Cedar Point, where 
there lived a Mr. Burroughs, who was a true Union man, and who would give 
them all the assistance in his poAver. For some time they endeavored to make 
their way along the shore by paddling their skiff. But an angry sea and an 
adverse wind ere long compelled them to abandon their boat and take to the 
bank. 

Their progress was slow, for Murphy's feet were in a horrible condition. 

They were so swollen and discolored that they bore a great resemblance to 

wo huge boiled puddings, stained and discolored where the fruit had broken 

rough. By adopting the expedient of letting down his pants over his feet 

i tying them beneath, holding the waistbands by the hips on each side, his 



20 

feet were in a measure protected from the oystershells and gravel with whic 
the banks of the Potomac were covered. There were times when he wa 
semi-delirious with anguish. Still he pressed on. 

They met some young men, to whom they represented that they war 
Confederate soldiers who had been lost in the woods, and who were trying t 
escape into Virginia. The young Marylanders told them to make thei 
way up to Watson's, at the mouth of Pope's Creek, and he would rui 
them over, as that was his business. But they advised them to keep clea 
of Burroughs's, at Lower Creek Point, as he was "a d — d Union hound, 
and "we are going to burn him out one of these nights." One of thes 
young men accompanied them some distance, and aided them to cross ; 
large creek, by which they saved several miles of travel. About noon, be 
ing completely used up, they went to a farm-house, and passing them 
selves off as Confederate soldiers received a good dinner. The benevo 
lent old man, rebel sympathizer as he was, was so moved by their piti 
able condition that he took a horse out of the plow, harnessed him to ar 
old wagon, and sent them, with his boy for a driver, several miles to Mr! 
Burroughs's house. There they were kindly received, though Mr. Buri 
roughs was evidently alarmed in view of vengeance he might bring dowr 
upon himself for showing any sympathy with Union soldiers. About foui 
miles above they could see a revenue cutter — the Hoiuell Cobb — anchorec 
opposite Pope's Creek. Watson's residence could also be seen on the 
shore. Colonel Hurd was impatient to reach the cutter. There was safety 
rest, and the means of rejoining his company before they had a fight, 
Colonel Raynor was also very anxious to get on board the vessel, for they 
were still in the midst of rebels, who might at any moment seize them. Col 
onel Murphy, notwithstanding his awful sufferings, was determined not to 
break company with his companions. 

They started, walking on the beach. But their progress was very slow 
and painful in the extreme. The oystershells and gravel hurt Colonel Mur- 
phy's feet so that once or twice he crawled over rough places on his hands and 
knees. Hurd, being much the strongest, proposed that he should hurry for- 
ward, get on board the vessel, and send a boat for his more exhausted com- 
rades, who, in the mean time, were to hobble forward as fast as possible. 
Colonel Raynor generously remained .behind to help his comrade, who was 
so fearfully crippled. The sun was but about an hourhigh w^hen they set out 
from Mr. Burroughs's house, and the evening twilight was fading into dark- 
ness when Colonel Hurd left his companions. 

It was quite dark before Hurd reached a point opposite the cutter. He 
hailed the boat and asked to be taken on board. The reply came back that 
they could not take him unless he told them who he was. He shouted ou.* 



21 

his story, pleading for himself and his comrades. It was all ir . Colonel 

Hurd then asked if they would drop a line and take him on bo f he would 
swim out to them. The cruel reply was, " If you come near ti gunboat we 
will fire upon you." We fear that the response of Colonel ' urd was not 
couched in the most gentle terms. 

In the meantime his comrades, toiling painfully along, after the lapse of 
half an hour, listened eagerly for the sound of oars coming to their relief, 
Disappointed, they crept slowly along, much of the time wading in the river, 
as the cool water was somewhat refreshing to their gory feet, Continuing 
on in this way, at nine o'clock at night they arrived opposite the vessel, 
which was anchored about a quarter of a mile out in the stream. 

They could not imagine what had become of Hurd. It was evident that 
something had befallen him, for they knew that he was incapable of deserting 
them. They hallooed several times, but no responsive voice came back 
through the silence and darkness of the night. They hailed the revenue 
cutter, over which the Stars and Stripes were floating in the moonlight, 
but no answer was vouchsafed them. Soon they heard the grating of the 
chains as the anchor was uplifted, and saw the unfurling of the sails. 
They clapped their hands in excess of joy, believing that the cutter was 
coming to their rescue, and that in a few moments they would find them- 
selves safe under the protection of that flag for which they had suffered so 
much. 

What was their astonishment to behold the vessel, as her canvas filled 
with the evening breeze, sailing away up the stream ! They gazed upon the 
receding boat in mute amazement and despair. " What can it mean ? Is 
this all a dream ?" they asked themselves over and over again. As they sat 
there in the gloom of night, and enveloped in the still deeper gloom of their 
own disappointment, they heard voices up the river, and walking a little di- 
stance they found some negroes engaged in night-fishing. To the question 
if they had seen a strange white man about during the evening one of the 
negroes replied : 

" A white man came here, hail de ship, tell dem he a Cap'n, want to git 
aboard ; jis den some of Massa Watson's men run down de bank to cotch 
him ; but he drop his shoes an' run away from dem. I hear dem say up to 
de house dey no cotch him." 

They further said that Massa Watson was going to run some goods over 
into Virginia as soon as the moon went down, and that the starting place was 
from a marsh two miles below, where two large batteaux were hid. Raynor 
and Murp'iiy, after anxious deliberation, determined to go back to Burroughs' 
house, thinking that Hurd would naturally strike for that as a place of safety. 
The negroes guided them to a dust-road, which they would find easier to 



\ 22 

their feet , the oystershell beach. Uncomplainingly these men of iron 

nerve and \ gy trudged along, when soon four large dogs rushed out upon 
them. A nin ro come running out from the house, and calling off the dogs, 
inquired, " bfio is ye ?" They replied, " We are anxious to get over into 
Virginia." ''uWell," said he " If you will hurry along you can overtake 
Massa Watson, who, with a lot of men, will run some boats over as soon as the 
moon goes down. Come along," he continued, " and I go wid you." "No, 
no," Raynor replied. "You stay here and keep the dogs back, and we'll 
hurry on and overtake them." 

The negro returned to the house, and they hid in a thicket until half an 
hour after the moon went down, when, concluding that " Massa Watson " was 
on his way across the river, they resumed their painful tramp, and reached 
Burroughs' about three o'clock in the morning. Mr. Burroughs (may God 
bless him !) rose from his sleep, took them in, gave them refreshments and a 
good bed. Weariness and exhaustion overcame the sense of pain, and they 
slept soundly. Whan they awoke in the morning, the first object that met 
their eyes was the Jlowe// CoI^I?, anchori^d in the stream opposite the house. 
A boat coming ashore. Colonels Raynor and Murphy were taken on board. 

Captain Franks, in command, listened attentively to their story, and told 
them that he had heard their hail the night before, but, believing it to be a 
decoy to get his men ashore, and knowing the neighborhood to be a dan- 
gerous one, he had weighed anchor and stood away. He did all he could to 
make amends for the misunderstanding, and treated them with the greatest 
humanity. Mrs. Franks wept at the sight of the inflamed, swollen, bleeding 
feet, and tenderly bathed them with her own sisterly hand. After partaking 
of a hasty breakfast Colonel Raynor was permitted, at his own earnest solici- 
tation, to take a boat's crew and go ashore to hunt up their lost comrade. 
There were but six seamen on board the cutter, and Raynor was allowed 
to take two. As they were getting the boat ready a man was seen coming 
rapidly down the beach. It was Colonel Hurd. A boat was sent for him, 
and he was soon on board the cutter. They were now all safe. Their won- 
derful escape was accomplished — an escape, when viewed in all its aspects of 
sagacity, of endurance, of heroism, of unselfishness, can find but few parallels 
in the history of man. 

Colonel Hurd confirmed the narrative of the negro. While hailing the 
night before, and shouting out his story, he was heard by Watson's men. 
They sprang down the bank to catch him, intending, doubtless, to carry him 
across the river in their boats and deliver him to the rebel authorities. As 
they rushed upon him, calling upon him to surrender, he dropped his shoes, 
darted between them, and. in the darkness, gained the woods, where he hid 
behind a log and slept till morning. He then worked his way back to Mr, 



23 

Burroughs', and was happily united with his companions beneath the folds of 
our national banner. 

A steamer coming up the river, they were transferred to her. Opposite 
Acquia Creek, the gun-boat Yankee, the flag-ship of the blockading fleet, 
under Commodore Craven, was at anchor. Commodore Craven and his offi- 
cers, after carefully questioning the adventurers, received them with the ut- 
most kindness. Hurd and Raynor were provided with socks for their feet, 
but none could be found large enough to cover the bloated mass into which 
Murphy's feet were swollen. The Commodore gave them a letter to Captain 
Dahlgren, Commander of the Navy Yard at Washington, and sent his swiftest 
tug, the Resolute, to convey them to the city. Just at sundown on Saturday 
evening, September the 14th, the steamer reached Washington. As they 
stepped on shore Colonel Hurd turned to his companions and said, very 
impressively : 

"Boys, I have lived twenty-seven days in the Rocky Mountains on 
mule's meat, with the snow four feet deep. But that was nothing to this T 

This frank admission, though coming so late, was was gratefully appre- 
ciated by his comrades. Before the close of another week. Murphy and 
Raynor were at their homes, on a ten day's leave of absence, and Colonel 
Hurd was with his company, ready for a fight. 

Space will not allow us to trace out the subsequent career of these 
heroic men. Sublimer deeds of daring were never performed than by Colonel 
Hurd, at Chickamauga, and Colonel Raynor, on the Red River. At Harri- 
son's Landing, Colonel Murphy, with his accustomed energy and tact, ren- 
dered services which won the love of thousands ready to perish. 



Arrival in Camp After Escape. 

The paymaster was paying off the men on the day of my arrival at the 
camp of my regiment beyond Alexandria, and the news of our escape and 
safety, a column in length, appeared in the N. Y. Herald of the same morn- 
ing, which the boys had read just an hour or two before. When I appeared 
on the ground the reader can imagine the excitement such an event would 
cause, particularly ori pay day, which is generally a gala occasion in camp, as 
you know the paymaster is always a welcome guest, and being one of the 
first to escape from Richmond, and so unexpected too, and the men knowing 
of the circumstances of my capture, &c., their reception was most enthusias- 
tic. They vied with each other in their affectionate attentions, as I was in 
a fearfully crippled condition. I received a ten day's leave of absence from 
General Franklin, my Division Commander, through the hands of my old 



24 

friend and Brigade Commander, General Sedgwick (a better or more gallant 
soldier never lived), and returned to my home and family. On rejoining 
my regiment on expiration of the ten days, I found that I was entirely unfit for 
duty, as my nervous system was very much shattered and physically almost a 
wreck, as the strain on my nerves, consequent on the excitement and priva- 
vations of our weary tramp through Virginia, was enough to break down the 
strongest constitution. To show the effect it had on me, I lost twenty-twO 
pounds of flesh during the trip, and my companions were equally reduced, 
and the loss of my shoes on the Rappahannock added to the other miseries 
of the journey. The last day in crossing the Potomac River near its mouth, 
six miles wide, in a small, flat-bottomed boat with the sides almost on a level 
with the water, and in a fearful gale of wind, the effect was worse on us than 
all the other part of the expedition. We were four long weary hours on the 
brink of the grave, not knowing what moment would be our last, constantly 
shipping water ; and the friendly warning of the negro from whom we took 
the boat to turn her bow to the winds and seas, was under the Providence of 
an all-seeing God the only thing that saved our lives, for if we went over the 
regular way, the breaking of the seas against the square stern of the boat would 
soon have swamped us, and we could not have lived five minutes in such a storm. 
Since that time I have always had a great respect for the -poor negro. Mr, 
Abbot, in his account, makes a mistake as to the management of the boat. I 
fortunately knew something of boating and I took command, my position be- 
ing in the stern, and steered with a paddle and did what was necessary, keep- 
ing her out of the trough of the sea and head constantly to the wind, which 
was blowing almost a hurricane over toward the Maryland shore. Colonel 
Hurd did good service in bailing out as we constantly shipped water, and 
Colonel Raynor sat at the bov/ with a stick which he could not use to much 
advantage. For those four long and terrible hours I never took my eyes off 
the bow of that boat, for it required the greatest vigilance to keep her from 
falling into the trough of the sea, for in that event we were swamped at once 
and inevitably lost ; and what added to our peril, we were fast drifting to- 
wards, as we supposed, a ledge of rocks where the sea and spray were in great 
commotion, near the Maryland shore at the mouth of the Wicomico River, 
and we felt that no earthly aid would prevent us from being dashed to pieces 
on those supposed rocks ; but when we neared them discovered to our great 
joy that it was merely a breakwater of sand over which, by getting out, we 
lighted our boat and were in comparatively smooth water. How often I con- 
templated death during that fearful ordeal we were passing through, and how 
sad it was to think that after soi"g through the privations of the land journey, 
that now, when almost in sight of our homes, we were doomed to a dreadful 
death, and our families and friends would never know our fate. These 



25 

thoughts were constantly recurring; to me, and how grateful we all felt when 
our safety was assured by a khid Providence that had guided us thus far and 
spared our lives through that perilous trip. On my arrival at Washington I 
was surprised to find that my hair had turned almost white from the effects 
of the excitement, and this at 29 years of age. My nervous system received 
a great shock, from which I have never fully recovered to this day, and I 
have experienced at intervals periods of great depression similar to the attack 
that prostrated me on the day we reached the Maryland shore after the cross- 
ing of the Potomac from Virginia. 



The following letter published in the iV(?7<:/ York Herald oi the 12th of 
Dec, 1861, after my escape from Richmond, may be of some interest now, as 
I devoted considerable of my time in the endeavor to assist the comrades I 
left after me in Richmond, and the Secretary of War gave myself and Hon. 
Alfred Ely, M. C, and who was also a Prisoner of War with me, the privilege 
of naming the offcers to be chosen for special exchange. 

To the Editor of the Herald. 

Brooklyn, Dec. 11, 1861. 

Perhaps a short recital of the perils and anxieties that our prisoners at 
Richmond are subject to would prove interesting at this time to your readers 
from one who was taken prisoner at the battle of Bull Run, and who escaped 
from Richmond in company with two other officers, after having been con- 
fined there nearly two months. Suffering with all the harassing thoughts of 
captivity, racked with uncertainty and the worst of apprehensions, makes me 
feel keenly for the sufferings of those noble men who are now confined in 
Richmond and other Southern cities, and now that the Government is deter- 
mining on an exchange of prisoners, O ! for all sakes, and for the sake of 
humanity, let it be done as speedily as possible. It should be the determi- 
nation of every Northern man to rescue them from the tomb which now 
surrounds them, far from their families, in an enemy's country, subject to 
all the anxieties of a prisoner's life, which we at home cannot have the 
most remote idea nor the slightest conception of, and which makes them 
just objects of commiseration and pity. Although most of them have 
expressed a willingness to stay and suffer as long as it answers the pur- 
poses of government that they should do so, yet they are of the opinion that 
an exchange of prisoners would involve no principle which would interfere 
wi]h the general policy of the government. 

The memorable 2ist of July will live in my mind as long as memory 
lasts ; but it is not my intention here to recount the incidents or sickening 
details of that dreadful day — which so many have attempted and given be- 



26 

fore — but will confine myself to a few facts which happened under my imme- 
diate notice, having had charge of the buildings around Sudley church, wi.ich 
were used for hospital purposes, under whose roofs many brave men breathed! 
their last. Those buildings contained over two hundred and eighty of ouri 
wounded men. All the force we had to attend on their pressing wants were! 
ten surgeons and some half dozen privates who volunteered to remain and as- 
sist them in their ardous duties. From this fact some idea may be formed 
of the sufferings those poor fellows endured from want of attention to their 
wounds at the proper time, and I am proud to think that those surgeons 
who remained and nobly did their duty, are known to their country and will 
be appreciated for it, and remain a standing reproach to those whom I saw 
desert their posts, leaving their men in that their hour of need ; and still 
harder to think that we who remained to assist, were obliged to leave them 
on an order from General Johnston on Monday night. Our leave taking was 
painful in the extreme. Many of them wept like children, and begged of 
us not to desert them, which was farthest from our hearts to do ; but there 
was no appeal from it, and the rebel officer who bore the order was deeply 
affected, but said it was peremptory and we must obey, so we had no other 
alternative but to submit to a fate which grew harder every hour. It was 
sad to leave strangers under such circumstances, but when it came to part- 
ing with mdny of our own regiment, among others poor Captain McQuade 
and Lieutenant Hamblin, who lay in the same room with Colonel Slocum and 
Major Ballou, ofthe Rhode Island regiment, who were both mortally wound- 
ed, it sends a pang of the keenest sorrow through my heart. Poor Colonel 
Slocum who was past all earthly aid, lay rolling his head, with his eyes up- 
turned, and from which the light had forever fled, a melancholy spectacle 
of the fate of war ; and Major Ballou, though conscious, bearing his agony 
with the greatest fortitude — no murmur escaped him, but a look of the most 
intense gratitude rewarded those who extended to him the slightest comfort. 
It was heartrending to think we were obliged to abandon those, and near 300 
others, many of whom died from neglect, as not one surgeon was allowed to 
remain and attend them. As we rode over the battle field we picked up three 
of our men who were still alive. On reaching Gen. Beauregard's headquar- 
ters at Manassas, we stated the condition of our wounded, and I must say 
in justice to him, that he regretted the order had been given, and in the 
morning allowed those surgeons who would sign an unqualified parole tO' 
return to Sudley church and attend to the wounded, making it an inevitable 
necessity on them to sign it. In this connection it is proper to state that 
Lieuts. Bagley and Gannon, of the Sixty-ninth New York State Militia, and 
Lieut. Underbill, of the Fire Zouaves, together with the undersigned, were 
the only officers of all that were taken who were offered the privilege of 



27 

signing the same parole as the surgeons, which we peremtorily refused to 
do, although repeatedly urged by Colonel Preston, our late Minister to 
Spain, as we considered it would be violating the oath we took to support 
our own government. The first night we reached Manassas we were sur- 
rounded by the staffs of General Johnston and Beauregard, whom I must 
say treated us with great consideration, and seemed to sympathize with us 
in our misfortune, but questioned us minutely as to the number of men 
we had engaged in the fight, how much artillery, &c.; and from their man- 
ner I should judge they considered it a dear bought victory, and one would 
suppose they were the losers, not the gainers of the day. On the 26th of 
July we were put in baggage cars and sent to Richmond, under a strong 
guard. On our way. to that city, the greatest curiosity was evinced to see 
the Yankee prisoners. The women were particularly inveterate against us, 
asking us what brought us there — did we come to plunder and rob them 
of their homes ? When we reached Richmond, we were confined in a to- 
bacco factory on Main street, where we met a large number of our com- 
rades, among them my old friend Colonel Corcoran, and many others whom 
I knew in New York. I also met there the Hon. Alfred Ely, whom I after- 
wards became intimate with, and would say in justice to that gentleman, 
that he behaved in every way becoming his position as a member of the 
federal Congress, and any reports that have been published contrary to this 
I declare to be false. It is hard to be a prisoner at any time, but to be 
maligned, without power to defend yourself, is harder still. During the 
fifty days that I was confined there, there was hardly one gleam of 
sunshine to change the monotony of the scene, hardly venturing to look 
out for fear of being insulted, and never permitted to go outside the prison 
walls without a guard. Our wounded at Richmond received attention from 
the rebel surgeons, as well as from our own, they were waited on by the 
Sisters of Mercy, whose mission is charity and good will to all, they have 
endeared themselves to many, and poured consolation into the minds of 
those who from there have winged their way to eternity. Those who are 
living and have been the recipient of their tender care, will, I venture 
to say, never forget them. The wounded in our hospitals were also in- 
debted to many kind attentions to the wife of Captain Ricketts, United 
States Army, a most estimable lady, who consented to become a prisoner to 
wait on her husband who was severely wounded. 

How gratified we were when the news reached us of our victory at Hat- 
teras Inlet, as we expected then that an exchange of prisoners would take 
place. General Winder had often assured us, in answer to our inquiries, that 
they were ready and only too glad to make an exchange as soon as our gov- 
ernment was willing. How we lived in the hope of being exchanged from 



28 

week to week, and that our government would not be unmindful of oui 
position, so isolated as though a sea was between us and our homes ; and the 
hopes and fears which agitated us from day to day, can be imagined, but can 
never be described ; and I, having been fortunate enough to have escaped 
from that gloomy prison after the greatest sufferings, and feeling for those I 
left behind me in confinement, ''am prompted to trespass upon the space of 
your valuable journal, hoping that my weak voice may reach those who have 
the power to raise theirs in those Legislative halls where the movement is 
about being discussed which interests me to so great a degree. 

CHAS. J. MURPHY. 



Dr. J. H. Stuart, Surgeon of the First Minnesota Regiment, who was taken 
a prisoner on the field with me, and since the war, Postmaster and Mayor 
of the City of St. Paul, Minn., and who represented that district in the last 
Congress, was good enough to write me the letter of recommendation to Mr. 
Lincoln, when he heard I was an applicant for a commission in the Regular 
Army, and it was afterwards endorsed by Dr. G. S. Winston of the 8th N. 
Y. Volunteers, and at present physician of the N. Y. Mutual Life Insurance 
Co. of New York, together with the other surgeons who were fellow prison- 
ers, and last but not least, by my old comrade of the Mexican War and dear 
personal friend, Major-General James Shields (U. S. Senator from three 
states), lately deceased; also documents from General Heintzleman and Hon. 
Moses Odell, copies of which will be found herein. 



t 

I 



29 

Copy of Letter of Recommendation to President Lincoln Written 
by Dr. J. H. Stewart, of St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Washington, Nov. 25, 1861. 
Hon. a. Lincoln, 

President of the United States : 
We take great pleasure in recommending to your favorable notice First 
Lieutenant Charles J. Murphy, who remained with the surgeons at the 
Sudley Church after the battle of Bull Run, and devoted himself to the care 
of the wounded, and though repeatedly urged to fly with the rest of the army, 
he most nobly refused, on the ground that not one man could be spared from 
constant care of the wounded, and chose rather to risk death or imprisonment 
than leave the brave soldiers to die on the field uncared for. His aid to the sur- 
geons by his energy and activity was greater than that of any five men, and 
from the close of the fight until the following night, when he was removed to 
Manassas, he did not take a moment's rest ; but like a noble-hearted and 
generous man as he is, gave himself entirely up to the suffering men around 
him. After reaching Manassas, Lieutenant Murphy, whom we called "doc- 
tor," and the rebels supposing him to be one, was offered parole ; but when 
he found that a sufficient number of surgeons were to return to attend to 
the wounded, he peremptorily refused to accept it, and was taken prisoner to 
Richmond, and on our arrival in that city, we found him engaged in caring 
for the wounded Federal soldiers there, as he had been at the Sudley Church 
Hospital. We feel that the conduct of Lieutenant Murphy merits the 
warmest commendation, in that, with ample time and means of escape, he 
sacrificed even his liberty for those who had no just claim on him. 
(Signed,) 

J. H. STEWART, Surgeon ist Minnesota Vols. 
G. 8. WINSTON, Surgeon 8th N. Y. S. M. 
WM. F. SWALM, Ass't Surgeon 14th Brooklyn. 
ALEX. McLETCHIE, Ass't Surgeon 79th N. Y. S. M. 
FOSTER SWIFT, Ass't Surgeon 8th N. Y. S. M. 
C. S. K. GRAW, Surgeon U. S. Vols. 
I am well acquainted with Mr. Murphy, and find him a noble-hearted 
and excellent man. His aid to our wounded and sick troops has earned 
the praise of the whole army. 

JAMES SHIELDS, Brig-Gen'l. 
If there be a vacancy of a first lieutenantcy or captaincy in the regular 
army, not already promised, let it be given to Charles J. Murphy, named 
within. 

A. LINCOLN. 
Washington, March 15, 1862. 



BO 

United States Sanitary Commission, } 
Washington, D. C, 21st Dec. 1861. \ 
To the Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Secretary of War. 
Sir. — The humane and heroic coiiluctlof the bearer, Mr. Charles 
Murphy at the 'Battle of Bull Run, the skill, perseverence and enduranc 
with which he affected his escape from the enemy, and the practical mannc 
in which he expressed his sympathy with your personal loss in that battle ar 
sufficient grounds for asking that he may be allowed the favor of a person 
interview with you on a matter of interest to the government. 
I have the honor to be sir, 

your very obedient servant. 

Signed, FRED.*LAW OLMSTED, 

Secretary Sanitary Commission 

This letter to the Secretary of War was given me at the request of Fred 
S. Winston, Esq., President of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Co. 
whose son was taken prisoner with me, and the allusion made to the Secre. 
tary's personal loss was caused by the part I took on the day after the Battle 
in having the body of his brother, Colonel Cameron, properly buried, and 
who was killed while gallantly leading on his splendid regiment, the 79th 
New York Highlanders. 



Copy of Letter from General Heintzleman. 



Washington, March ist, 1862. 
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, 

President of the United States. 

Sir. — This will be handed to you by Charles J. Murphy, who is an ap- 
plicant for the appointment to a Captaincy in the Regular Army. 

He was most conspicuous for gallantry at the Battle of Bull Run while 
serving as a staff officer in my division, and highly distinguished himself at the 
post of danger by voluntarily fighting in the ranks of his regiment when his 
position was at the rear with his trains. At the close of the fight on that dis- 
astrous day, he organized a field hospital at the Sudley Church, remaining 
there in full charge, and humanely attending to the wants of the wounded 
soldiers, although this was out of the line of his duty, through which he was 
captured by the enemy. His assistance to the surgeons and to the suffering 
men on that occasion, as I am credibly informed, was of the most incalcula- 



HI 

ble value, and his disinterested and humane services deserve the greatest praise, 
all of which make him fully entitled to the consideration' of the government. 
His escape to our lines from his prison at Richmond after the most unheard of 
sufferings and privation, was one of the best planned and most successful 
affairs of the kind I heard of during the war. This proves him to be a man of 
most extraordinary nerve, sagacity and endurance, and one who will no doubt 
make a competent and efficient officer in the Regular Army of the United 
States. 

S. P. HEINTZLEMAN, 

Brig. Gen., U. S. V. 

Copy of Letter written by Hon. M. F. Odell, Member of Con- 
gress from Brooklyn, and of the Committee on the 
Conduct of the War. 



Washington, June 30th, '64. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War. 

Sir. — The bearer, Chas. J. Murphy, desires an interview with you ; he 
is well known to me ; he was taken prisoner at Bull Run while caring for the 
wounded at the close of the engagement. I saw him after the battle of Fair 
Oaks minister to the wants of hundreds of our wounded and sick soldiers from 
the battle field, supplying them with much needed delicacies without fee or re- 
ward except the consciousness of his own humane acts. Mr. Potter, M. C, 
of Pennsylvania, being with me, was witness to this man's disinterested and 
noble conduct, and insisted on sharing some of the expense which he court- 
eously refused, replying that it was a labor of love on his part toward our 
poor suffering soldiers and did not render the service for money. 

His conduct there and then commended him to my kindliest sympathy, 
and of all the men I know there is none more deserving of the favor of the 
government. I have no doubt of his ability to comply with all the regula- 
tions required if appointed to the position he seeks, as I feel that he is worthy 
of anything in reason that he may ask at your hands. 

Yours truly, 

M. F. ODELL. 



On the strength of these letters, that great and good man, Abraham 
Lincoln, recommended me for appointment in the Regular Army, as appears 
from his endorsement, a copy of which is appended below the letter of the 
surgeons and endorsement of General Shields. I must here make mention 



32 

of the kindly manner in which the martyred President received me just ai;r 
my escape from Richmond, when I was all crippled and in a lamentaly 
prostrated condition, after first calling to pay my respects and give scie 
verbal messages I had consented to convey to him from some of our proii 
nent prisoners in Richmond. He made a special engagement that I sho 
call at the White House in the evening at 7 o'clock, when the business of 
day would be over, and I remained in close conversation with him answer 
questions till after ten o'clock. He wanted to know much about Capt 
Todd, Mrs. Lincoln's brother, who was in command of our prison, a;i 
going over matters that fell under my observation while in Richmond I 
being one of the first prisoners to reach Washington after Bull Run. |I 
had many facilities for information, having volunteered to take charge s 
superintendent of the hospitals for our wounded at the tobacco factoris 
and was allowed out in the city on hospital business, but always accompc 
ied by an armed guard. I will never forget that delightful evening w- 
that good hearted, great man, whose memory I will ever revere ; his kir 
ness and heartiness of manner were notable, and I was always able 
feel at home in his presence. I have asked him since to bestow favors ^1 
others, which were invariably granted, a privilege which, however, I am gl;l 
to say, was never abused. I could always freely call on him, and it was ri 
honor to have his valued acquaintance and confidence up to the time of I 
untimely and tragic death. Had he lived, the South would have had j) 
stronger or more sincere friend. 



When about to resign my commission, the officers and non-commission 
officers of my regiment prepared the following testimonial, which was sign 
by the majority of them, and presented to me with a valuable souvenir on t 
eve of my departure : , 

Camp Scott, near Alexandria, Va. 
To Captain C. J. Murphy, 

2d Regiment Scott Life Guard ; 

Dear Sir : The undersigned Commissioned and Non-commissioned Of 
cers, learning you are about leaving us, desire before parting, to express 01 
high estimation of your courage, humanity, and self-sacrificing spirit, asmai 
ifested on the Battle Field at Bull Run, July 21st, 1861. Being present c 
that memorable occasion, we were witnesses to your courageous conduc 
when fighting in the ranks, your kindness to our wounded, your refusing 1 
desert them in their hour of need — thereby subjecting yourself to all the ii 
conveniences of a long imprisonment, calls for our loudest praise. We aj 
plaud you, sir, for your daring exploit in escaping from your Prison, at Rid 



33 

mond, travelling hundreds of miles on foot, through an enemy's country, suf- 
fering from Hunger, Cold 2Ci\^ Fatigue, d\\\s\\\c\\ you endured, and success- 
fully reached your Regiment, and was welcomed with joy and gratitude by 
Officers and Privates. We present this testimonial to you, as a token of our 
high Regard and Esteem. 
Signed by 

Augustus Funk, Major. R. S. Watson, ist Lieut. Co. A. 

Eugene McGrath, Captain Co. B. Jos. B. Clark, ist Lt. Co. E. 

G. M. Dennett, Captain Co. D. A. A. Terrill, ist Lt. Co. G. 

O. A. Tilden, Captain Co. E. C. E. Barbour, ist Lt. Co. L 

W. H. Baird, Captain Co. H. W. Banks, 2d Lt. Co. G. 

And fifteen others. 

On applying to the War Department for my appointment, I was informed, 
to my great disappointment, that there were several ahead of me that were re- 
commended for Commissions, and I would be obliged to wait my turn, as the 
appointments wonld be made in regular order. I had already resigned my 
commission in my regiment expecting an immediate appointment, and not 
wishing to idle my time away in Washington waiting, and always been accus- 
tomed to an active, busy life, I immediately took my departure for the White 
House on the Pamunkey River, which was the base of operations for Gen, 
McClellan's Army of the Potomac, and served as a volunteer aid, without rank 
or pay, all through that unfortunate campaign, from the Battle of Fair Oaks 
to the last of the Seven Days' Battles at Malvern Hill. A copy of the letter of 
the Medical Director of Transports for the Army of the Potomac, Surgeon 
E. S. Dunster, will be found herein. He kindly certifies to my humble ser- 
vices on that memorable occasion, the day after the Battle of Malvern Hill, 
when our noble and exhausted, but not discouraged army were all huddled 
together at Harrison's Landing, in a wheat field, in a severe drenching rain, 
and without any shelter, on the ever to be remembered 2d of July. I have the 
honor and privilege to say that I erected the first field hospital for the Army 
of the Potomac on the James River with the little assistance I could obtain 
from a few of our exhausted and almost famished men, and no sooner 
were the ridge pole of the tents in position than the wounded brave fel- 
lows would crawl in out of the pitiless storm. How little our people at home 
know of the sufferings and sacrifices of the noble men who fought and suffered 
in this just cause of the Union that the Nation might live ! 

On this same evening at 10 o'clock, and it was a fearful stormy night, I left 
Harrison's Landing on the Transport Steamer John Brooks, in charge of fifty 
badly wounded men for Fortress Monroe, as per copy original permit here- 
with. 



34 

Harrison's Landing, Va., ) 
July 2d, 1862. j 

To the Officer in charge of the Hospital transport John Brooks : 

Permit the bearer Charles J. Murphy, with the wounded and disabled 
soldiers under his charge, to pass down the River to Fortress Monroe. 

E. S. DUNSTER, 
Asst. Surgeon U. S. A., 
and Medical Director of Transport. 

We arrived in the morning at Old Point. And a fearful night it was. 
Our surgeons remained up all night dressing wounds, and the steamer was 
crowded with disabled men, and many died during the night. I will ever 
remember the brave and gallant Capt. Jos. O'Donohue, of the 69th Volunteers, 
Meagher's Irish Brigade, and I performed the melancholy duty of closing 
his eyes in death, just as the steamer sighted Fortress Monroe. The field offi- 
cers of his command were all killed or disabled, and he . was in charge of 
his regiment at Malvern Hill when he received his mortal wound. 

I cannot refrain from mentioning here an act of magnanimity performed 
by Major Decourcy of the 2d N. Y. Vols.. Pie happened to be at the Fort, 
and hearing of the death of Capt. O'Donohue, he voluntarily came forward and 
ordered the embalming of the body, and had it forwarded to New York 
at his own expense. Major Decourcy is now Deputy Sheriff in New York. 

I will never forget the noble bearing of our Grand Army on that memo- 
rable march to the James River, fighting a battle every day and retreating 
every night of that fearful week, defeating the enemy in every engagement 
except the first at Gaines' Mill. The retreat was conducted as orderly as if 
nothing uncommon was occurring, all of which is due to the admirable man- 
ner and plan of this, one of the most extraordinary retreats in history, and 
conducted and carried out successfully by that able and beloved commander 
of the Grand Old Army of the Potomac, Major-General George B. Mc- 
Clellan. 

We lost in killed, wounded and missing, 14,000 men, from the 25th of 
June, till we reached Harrison's Landing on the ist day of July, having fought 
the Battle of Gaines' Mill. Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Golding's 
Farm, Peach Orchard, Glendale and Malvern Hill, and never was such fight- 
ing as took place at Malvern Hill, which was a regular artillery fight on 
our side. We had between 200 and 300 guns in position on that hill, and 
Confederates attacked us in solid column. At each volley of our artillery 
great swaths of living men were hurled to destruction, but still they closed 
up after every murderous round, fired and steadily advanced again and again 
almost up to the mouths of the cannons, only to be torn to pieces by our 
grape and canister at close quarters. 



35 

In the rear of their columns and in the woods they were exposed to a 
heavy fire from our gunboats on the river a little over a mile away, that 
poured a steady fire of 200 pound elongated shells, that burst in their rear 
ranks and caused great havoc and came so unexpected, as they never antici- 
pated a fire from thqt quarter as well as in their front. The shells were so 
large, and so closely resembled a well-known cooking utensil that they chris- 
tened them "camp kettles," and they would at times cut down great trees, 
coming with such terrific force. 



This description of a charge on a Battery by the Confederates, is taken 
from a newspaper, and is so truthful and lifelike that I copy it entire, and is 
so near what I have witnessed on the field, and is so thrilling, that I am sure 
it will interest the reader. 

Supporting the Guns. 

"Did you ever see a battery take position ? It hasn't the thrill of a cav- 
alry charge, nor the grimness of a line of bayonets, moving slowly and deter- 
minedly on ; but there is a peculiar excitement about it that makes old veter- 
ans rise in their saddles and cheer. 

We have been fighting at the edge of the woods. Every cartridge box 
has been emptied once or more, and more than one-fourth has melted away 
in dead and wounded and missing. Not a cheer is heard in the whole brig- 
ade. We know that we are driven foot by foot, and that when we break 
back once more, the line will fjour through the gap. 

Here comes help ! 

Down the crowded highway gallops a battery, withdrawn from some 
other position to save ours. The field fence is scattered while you could 
count thirty, and the guns rush for the hills behind us. Six horses to a piece 
— three riders to each gun. Over dry ditches, where a farmer would not 
drive a wagon, through clumps of bushes, over logs a foot thick, every horse 
on the gallop, every rider lashing his team and yelling — the sight behind us 
makes us forget the foe in front. The guns jump two feet high as the heavy 
wheels strike rock or log, but not a horse slackens his pace, not a cannoneer 
loses his seat. Six guns, six caissons ; sixty horses, eighty men, for the brow 
of the hill as if he who reached it first would be knighted. 

A moment ago the battery was a confused mob. We look again, and the 
six gun are in position, the detached horses hurrying away, the ammunition 
chests ' pen, and along our line runs the command, "Give them one more vol- 
ley, an I fall back to support the guns." We had scarcely obeyed, when 
boom ! boom ! opens the battery, and jets of fire jump down and scorch the 
green .rees under which we fought and despaired. 



36 

The scattered old brigade has a chance to breathe for the first time in 
three hours, as we form a line and lie down. What grim, cool fellows these 
cannoneers are ! Every man is a perfect machine. Bullets splash dust into 
their faces, but they do not wince. Bullets sing over and around, they do not 
dodge. There goes one to the earth, shot in his head as he sponged his gun. 
The machinery loses just one beat, misses just one cog in the wheel, and then 
works away as before. 

Every gun is using short-fuse shell. The ground shakes and trembles, 
the roar shuts out all sounds from a battle line three miles long, and the shells 
go shrieking into the swamp to cut trees off, to mow great gaps in the bushes, 
to hunt out and scatter and mangle men, until their corpses cannot be recog- 
nized as human. You would think a tornado was howling through the for- 
est, followed by billows of fire, and yet men live through it — aye, press through 
it to capture the battery. We can hear their shouts as they form for the 
rush. 

Now the shells are changed for grape and canister, and the guns are fired 
so fast that all the reports blend together in one mighty roar. The shriek of 
a shell is the wickedest sound in war, but nothing makes the flesh crawl like 
the demoniac singing, purring, whistling grapeshot, and the serpent-like hiss 
of canister. Men's legs and heads are torn from their bodies, and bodies cut 
in two. A round shot or shell takes two men out of the ranks as it crashes 
through. Grape and canister mow a swath and pile the men on top of each 
other. 

Through the smoke we see a swarm of men. It is not a battle line, but 
a mob of men desperate enough to bathe their bayonets in the flame of the 
guns. The guns leap from the ground, almost, as they are depressed on the 
foe, and shrieks and screams and shouts blend into an awful and steady cry. 
Twenty men out of the battery are down, and the fire is interrupted. The foe 
accepts it as a sign of wavering, and come rushing on. They arenot ten feet 
away when the guns give them a last shot. That discharge picks living men 
off their feet, and throws them into the swamp, a blackened, bloody mass. 

Up now, as the enemy are among the guns ! There is a silence of ten 
seconds,, and then the flash and roar of more than 3,000 muskets, and the 
rush forward with bayonets. For what ? Neither on the right, nor left, nor 
in front of us is a living foe ! They are corpses around us which have been 
struck by three, four, and even six bullets, and nowhere on this acre of 
ground is a wounded man ! The wheels of the guns cannot move until the 
blockade of the dead is removed. Men cannot pass from caisson to gun with- 
out climbing over winrows of dead. Every gun and wheel is smeared with 
blood ; every foot of grass has its horrid stain." 



37 

I occupied a position where I could plainly see the greater part of this 
fight, and such frightful slaughter I hope never to witness or hear of again. 

Was there ever such reckless daring in the history of the world ? I ques- 
tion it, and many a brave and noble fellow went down tq his grave on that mem- 
orable istof July, Would to God our brave southern brothers had been fight- 
ing in a better cause. Ever since the war, when I have contemplated the won- 
derful nerve of the Confederate soldiers, and by declaring this, I don't mean 
to disparage the well-known bravery of our own men, I cannot think of them 
but with the greatest admiration. I trust the time will soon come when 
the Society of the Army of Northern Virginia, who fought under the accom- 
plished and gallant Lee, will meet side by side at the annual reunion, with 
the brave soldiers of our Society of the Army of the Potomac, who fought 
under McClellan, Meade and Grant. I would here add that at all our Army Re- 
unions of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and at other gatherings of 
old soldiers, I have always heard nothing but the highest praise accorded to 
our Southern brothers for their bravery and daring on the field. 



West Point, New York, April 27, 1866. 

This is to certify that on the 2d of July, 1S62, at the time the Army of 
the Potomac reached Harrison's Landing, on the James River, after the 
memorable seven days' battles, Mr. Charles J. Murphy cheerfully tendered 
to me his valuable services in caring for the sit?k and wounded, a duty he 
well knew, from former experience, how to perform. 

He put up a large number of tents, being the first Field Hospital erected 
on the James River for that army, all the wounded being at that time without 
shelter, and in the midst of one of the most drenching rains that ever fell 
from the heavens. Subsequently he accompanied and kindly and tenderly 
cared for a lot of wounded men to Fortress Monroe. His services so freely 
rendered at a time of the direst confusion and distress, when the safety even 
of our army for a while seemed somewhat problematical, were of exceeding 
great value, and deserve, as I am sure they have received, the grateful thanks 
of both the men whom he voluiitarily helped to care for and the officers 
whom he so nobly assisted, as every one's exertions, when expended, as his 
were, in the proper direction, was felt and approved by all in command on 
that trying occasion, and I trust the Government will see to it that such 
valuable services, so freely and gratuitously rendered at such a time, will not 
be overlooked. 

E. L. DUNSTER, 

Ass't Surgeon, U. S. A. 

And at the time referred to 

Medical Director of Transports. 



38 

I have always been under the impression that it was the fearful rain 
storm of the 2d July, the day after Malvern Hill, which providentially saved our 
splendid and heroic army from destruction or capture, our poor, jaded men 
being in no condition to offer any further resistance, and the condition of the 
roads were such that the Confederates could not move their troops forward, and 
our men were all indiscriminately huddled together (nearly 100,000), infantry, 
artillery and cavalry, with no organization, and covering a space of about 
three miles on the bank of the James, and under one of the most fearful 
rainfalls I ever remember experiencing, and with no shelter whatever. It 
would have been an easy matter, under the circumstances, with fresh troops, 
to have captured the whole army. 

The weather was extremely hot, and our men were suffering for the want 
of ice, particularly the sick and wounded ; and as the Commissary had none 
to issue, and none was expected, I at once applied to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, Hon. S. P. Chase, for a permit (which I secured through my 
friend, Mr. Odell, M. C.) to land a cargo, as per copy of letter, and tele- 
graphed on to New York to friends to order at once a shipment on my 
account, and the schooner Sallie Gay was immediately chartered, loaded, and 
started off from Rockland Lake with 286 tons, and unfortunately arrived - 
Fortress Monroe on the very day the troops commenced the evacuation ■^s 
Harrison's Landing, which was a great disappointment to me, more for ; -^^ 
poor men's sake, who needed it so much, than for my own pecuniary lo ,-''^^5 

.'each 



yne, but 
Washington, July 6th, i8(' £ j.j^g 
Hon. S. p. Chase, , 

Secretary of the Treasury : 

. . dy cry. 

The bearer, Chas. J. Murphy, desires permit to take cargo of ice , ^ 

army on James River, where I am informed it is much wanted. He is W) , 
of the permit, and I am sure it is not a matter of speculation or profi '^ 
his part that prompts him to make this application. I saw him after ba \y 
of Fair Oaks administer to the wants of large numbers of our wounded an-^ 
sick soldiers at his own expense, hence feel him to be the right man to gc 
to the army ; and I am informed that he rendered great service as a volunteer 
aid, without rank or pay, during the late seven days' battles, in the move- 
ment of the array to Harrison's Landing. 

Yours truly, 

M. F. ODELL, M. C. 

After the fatigues, hardships and anxiety of that unfortunate campaign 
before Richmond, and after my return from the second Bull Run, I was 



39 

attacked with malarial fever, from exposure on the Chickahominy River 
vk^hile waiting for the army to move, and which prostrated and confined 
me to my bed for several months, and left me in a similar condition, 
both mentally and physically, to that I was in after my escape from 
Richmond ; so much so, that I thought I would never recover my health 
sufficient to return to the army, and gave up my appointment so kindly 
tendered me bv'Mr. Lincoln. 



[Copy of letter from Col. Riblet, of whom I have the honor of now (1882) 
serving under, in the Fourth Company, Seventh Regiment Veteran 
Association, and in whose company I first enlisted in 1852, thirty 
years ago. Colonel Riblet is at present Secretary of the Peter Cooper 
Insurance Company, corner of Third Avenue and Ninth Street, New 
York.] 

New York, Dec. 26th, i86r. 
Hon'l John W. Forney, 

Sec'y of the Senate. 
'ear Sir : 

Allow me to introduce to you Mr. Charles J. Murphy, who was formerly 
th ember of the Seventh Reg't N. Y. S. M., and now an officer in one of the 
mei^ients of the Scott Life Guard. Was in the battle of Bull Run, where 
to m. ^ taken prisoner, having refused to leave the field until the wounded 
well k ^red for ; escaped from Richmond some wrecks since, and is now an 

I nt for a commission in the regular army, a position he is well calcu- 
on thv fill. If you will grant him your powerful aid in the matter, you will 
shelte iting a worthy man, and as good-hearted a fellow as there is in the 
from '. Very truly, 
care '• Yours, &c., 

ren..' WM. H. RIBLET. 

0-- . 

Copy of letter from Gen'l Cavada, a Cuban gentleman, who, if my mem- 
ory serves me aright, commanded the ii6th Penna. Regiment in the war, 
jand who resigned his position of U. S. Consul in Cuba, to join the revolution- 
lary cause. He was commander-in-chief at one time of the insurgent or patriot 
jarmy, 

U. S. Consulate, Santiago de Cuba, June 3d, 1867. 
IMy Dear Pennington : 

I This will make you acquainted with Mr. Charles J. Murphy, who is in- 
terested in a matter before Congress, which he will explain. Will you be 



40 

kind enough to do what you can for him, and also enlist the aid of Mr. 
Myers in his behalf. 

Mr. Murphy's exceeding kindness and generosity was known to me be- 
fore I left Richmond, and on ray arrival at Annapolis in a destitute condi- 
tion, after a long imprisonment, he generously and voluntarily advanced us 
money for our immediate wants, supplied us with clothing, and did everything 
in his power to assist us, and all which were from the best and kindest of mo- 
tives, for which myself and brother officers have always felt exceedingly grate- 
ful ; and I would much like to be of some service to him in this matter. 

Whatever you may be able to effect in his behalf will be very gratefully 
remembered by 

Your sincere friend, 

F. F. CAVADA. 

Edward Pennington, 127 S. 7th St., Philadelphia. 



Gen, Shields* Arrival in New York. 



My old comrade in Mexico, Major-General Jas. Shields arrives in Ne.'-v 
York and is suddenly taken sick at the Astor House. I am now in possessif.n 
of the last letter he wrote about a half hour before his sudden death at Ot- 
tumwa, Iowa, he being the last but one of the general officers living whp fought 
in Mexico, and was the only general in the war of the Rebellioi;i who 
defeated Stonewall Jackson. The following extract is from thcj Irish 
Worldoi September 28th, 1878. 

In the morning Dr. Farrington pronounced his condition very dangerous. 
Inquiries were at once made if the General had any personal friends In New 
York, and their whereabouts. V 

" On Sunday morning Colonel C. J. Murphy, who does business in\Vesey 
Street, New York, but who resides across the river in Brooklyn, cvalled 
at the Astor House. Round about this hotel is the most densely set;4ed, 
busiest and noisiest locality in all America ; and the continuous rattle ^of 
wheels, night and day, the shout of newsboys and peddlers, the blowing stean. 
whistles, and the incessant hum and rumble of business made it anything bu ; 
pleasant for the sick. How was the patient to find relief in that neighbc j 
hood ? How rest ? After a brief consultation with the Doctor it was decid 
that the best thing to be done, according to Mr. Murphy's suggestion, was ; 
take the General in a carriage to his residence, 464 Henry Street, where ' 
would be removed from the turmoil of the great city. 

Colonel Murphy himself is a veteran of two wars. He was in Mexic 



41 

and his services in the late war for the Union won for him the esteem of his 
comrades, and the especial recognition of President Lincoln himself. 

The Colonel's wife is a relative of the illustrious Irish Revolutionist, 
Wolfe Tone. Is it not fitting that in such a household the foremost military 
man of the Irish race of to-day should lay on his stretcher in the hour of dis- 
comfiture ? 

The press reporters very soon had hold of the matter, and from the hour 
the news got abroad streams of visitors flowed, from morning until night, and 
far into the night, to the temporary residence of the prostrate hero. Only 
very special friends, however, could be admitted. At Colonel Murphy's 
house, where every kindness was and is shown him the General began to show 
signs of increasing strength ; and his improvement now, if slow, seems steady 
and sure. On Monday the following letter reached the Irish J For/d office : 

New York, September i6, 1878. 
Mr. Patrick Ford, 
Dear Sir : 

Will you be good enough to call or send some gentleman down to my 
office in" relation to a message I have from General Shields to you. The 
General desires me to say that if his life is spared he will be at the Academy 
of Music on Tuesday next to do his best in aid of the Southern sufferers by 
yellow fever. 

I am, dear sir. 

Very truly yours, 

C. J. MURPHY. 

On receipt of this communication a representative of the Ir/s/i World 
called upon the General, at the residence of Colonel Murphy. The street 
in front of the house is of wooden pavement covered over with tar and sand, 
hard pressed with heavy rollers, rendering the passage of vehicles almost 
noiseless. On his appearance at the door, the JVorld man was introduced 
into the parlor, where he was cordially received by Mr. Murphy. Under this 
rooftree dwell a happy couple, with their nine children, the very picture of 
domestic felicity. The Colonel is a most affable gentleman. He is of the 
medium height, somewhat portly, with his hair of sable silver, and a face im- 
pressed with good sense and a Icindly disposition. Colonel Murphy himself 
fought along with Shields in the Mexican war. He likewise fought in the 
late war for the Union, and distinguished himself for bravery in action, 
humanity toward the wounded and sick, whom he volunteered to wait upon, 
as well as for some daring adventures of which the ordinary soldier never 
knows anything. His escape from Libby prison, in Richmond with his ten 



42 

days in the woods, where he was subjected to the extremest privations, until 
he arrived within the lines of the Union army, is graphically described by 
John S. C. Abbott, in 'Harper's Monthly ' for January, 1867." 

I was glad to have the privilege of nursing my old friend in his sickness, 
and it appeared as an act of Providence for him to recover sufficiently to be 
able to deliver the lecture at the Academy of Music, which proved u grand 
success, as we realized over eighteen hundred dollars, which was sent 
through the Mayor of Brooklyn to the yellow fever sufferers of the South, 
The General's reception at my house after the lecture was a complete suc- 
cess and gratified the old gentleman exceedingly. I engaged the U. S. 
Military Band from Fort Hamilton to escort him to the Academy of Music 
and back. The 69th Regt.-Militia Irish Volunteer Batallion, Rankin Post 
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Veteran Association of the 
Mexican War, under my own command as Marshal, escorted him from the 
house and back, and he received a grand ovation from over five thousand 
people in front of the house. Speeches of congratulation were made by 
Hon. W. E. Robinson, Corporal Tanner and others ; Mrs. John Mitchell and 
many other admirers of the General were at the House to receive and honor 
him. 

I would here remark that not one dollar was used from the proceeds of 
sale of tickets for anything outside of the legitimate expenses of the 1-ecture. 
The hiring of the band and all other outside expenses of the reception were 
paid out of my own private funds, and my check for two hundred dollars 
for his expenses was handed the General on the day he left for his home, 
and which was reimbursed to me afterwards. He went back poor because 
money-getting was not one of the traits of his character. General Shields, 
the soldier, the statesman, the scholar, and the incomparable patriot, 
has achieved fame but not fortune ; in him the two cannot be linked, and 
this is well. It is a many years ago when he first sat in the Senate with Benton, 
Clay, Calhoun, Cass, Chase, Corwin, Douglass, Seward and Webster. He 
has achieved honors for which history may be ransacked in vain for a 
parallel. We may be pardoned for finding in the thought that one of 
Ireland's sons has in this land of liberty served with unequaled distinction 
both in military and civil life, and has in his time represented three sovereign 
States in the American Senate, something which has never before happened 
in the history of the Republic. 

On his return to Missouri he wrote me the following letter : 



43 
Copy of Letter from General Shields. 



Carrolton, Mo., Dec. 6, 1878. 
My Dear Friend and Comrade : 

Why did you take the trouble to send me vouchers ; your own word is 
more than sufificient. My New York trip was not as pleasant at first as I 
anticipated, but the magnificent reception at your house on the night of the 
lecture, and yours and your family's exceeding great kindness and devotion 
to me when stricken with sickness, made up for all New York's shortcomings 
heretofore, and while life lasts I will never forget you all with the most pro- 
found gratitude, and I consider it was owing mainly to your exertions and 
those of Mr. P. Ford that the lecture for the yellow fever sufferers was such 
a great success, and you devoted so much of your time to this affair, to the 
neglect of your business ; but you will have the consolation of knowing that 
the splendid result will assauge in part the suffering of our poor plague 
stricken brothers of the South. 

I am sorry I did not meet your brother-in-law, Theobald Wolfe Tone, 
before I left New York, as the name even is an attraction for me ; and no 
doubt you feel proud that the mother of your nine children is a relative of 
that illustrious Irish revolutionist, Wolfe Tone, 

I do not forget your letter of congratulation, and need not say I thank 
you for sentiments which you have proved you cherish towards me on all 
occasions, and I don't know how I will ever repay your esteemed self and 
incomparable family for all you and they did for me. Give my love to my 
little pet, your daughter Nannie, my fair secretary, and my best respects and 
regards to Mrs. Murphy, who nursed me so tenderly, your son Felix, the 
lawyer, and all the other members of your household, and believe me your 
sincere friend and comrade, 

JAMES SHIELDS. 

Please remember me to Dr. Byrne, of Clinton street, who attended me so 
kindly, and refused all compensation. 

Mr. Chas. J. Murphy, New York. 



Copy of letter that was written by Genl. Shields a half hour before 
his death. He was visiting his niece at the Convent at Ottumwa, and died 
suddenly in his chair without any warning. 

Ottumwa, Iowa, 

May ist, 1879. 
My Dear Friend : 

I took the liberty of writing you a few lines from home asking your hos- 
pitality, since then I came here, and I find I must hide away soon to save my 



44 

life. But delighted as I would be in your kind, affectionate and congenial 
home, I must not go so far away from my family at present, some time this 
season I may. This is my condition, first, a terrible cold ; this was neglect- 
ed, next bronchitis, very severe ; now nervous postration and asthmatic affec- 
tion, I need rest, perfect quiet, no public speaking, sleep, sleep, repose, re- 
pose of mind and body. I have all this. I must hide away, and this made 
me think of your peaceful home. But I cannot go so far now, I must seek it 
nearer home, so you need not make any change on my account, sometime, 
soon, I hope to see you. I never was more at ease in heart and mind than 
with you, and in your kind and friendly home. 
My kind regards to you, my dear friend. 

Sincerely, your friend. 

JAS. SHIELDS. 



Reply of Gen'l Hooker to Invitation to attend Gen'l Shield's 

Lecture. 

Garden City, L. I., N. Y., ) 
Septr. 26th, 1878. j 

Colonel C. J. Murphy, 

Chair. Com. of Invitation : 

My Dear Colonel : Yonr cordial invitation of the 24th instant, with enclo- 
sures, was received by me late last evening, and I regret that I have to state 
that it will be utterly impossible for me to be present to meet and to hear my 
old friend's lecture this evening, owing to engagements growing out of Queens 
Co. Fair, now being held, near this City. I sincerely hope that the old Gen- 
eral will be blessed with health and strength in his noble efforts in behalf of 
our afflicted countrymen. 

Be pleased to give him my love, and best wishes. 

Sincerely Yours. 

J. HOOKER, 

Maj. Genl. 

I was a guest at the reunion of the First Massachusetts Volunteers in 
the Mexican War at Nantasket Beach, in Boston Harbor, lately,on the invitation 
of my f riend,Comrade Henry McGlennon, manager of the Boston Theatre, and 
when the matter of our Pension Bill before Congress was discussed, mention 
was made of the opposition of the Senate by Mr. Hoar, of Massachusetts,who 
had opposed the bill on account of its including Jeff Davis in its benefit. 
Eight dollars per month from the passage of that bill is all we ask, and in 



4.1 

relation to this article a discussion was appended in one of the local 
papers, which Mr. Davis happened to notice and wrote me a letter of 
acknowledgement, a copy of which will be found herein: The matter was 
written up afterwards for the Brooklyn Eagle by the Hon. Wm. E. Robinson, 
who now represents my district in Congress, and is as follows. 

On a recent visit to Boston Colonel Murphy met some of Senator 
Hoar's friends, who had opposed the 'pension to the Mexican veterans for 
fear of honoring Jefferson Davis. Colonel Murphy told them whatever the 
faults of Jefferson Davis may have been they should not forget that it was 
due to him, in a great measure, that Buena Vista resulted in a glorious 
victory in place of a disastrous defeat. Colonel Murphy served gallantly all 
through that war. It will be recollected that so certain was Santa Anna of a 
victory that he wrote to General Taylor saying : "You are surrounded by 
twenty thousand men and cannot, in any human probability, avoid suffering 
a rout and being cut to pieces with your troops ; but as you deserve consid- 
eration and particular esteem, I wish to save you from a catastrophe," and 
gave one hour from the arrival of his flag of truce to General Taylor to sur- 
render. Old "Rough and Ready" did not require all the hour to respond. 
He wrote his memorable but brief dispatch : "I decline acceding to your 
request." But think of the situation ! An army of twenty thousand veteran 
soldiers, Santa Anna at their head ; General Alvarez, Chief of Cavalry ; 
Lombardina, of Infantry ; Requena, of Artillery ; Villarnil, of Engineers ; 
with Vasquez, Torrejou, Ampudia, Andrade, Minon, Pacheco, Garcia, 
Ortego, Mejia, Flores, Guzman, Mora, Romero and other dashing general 
officers, and to resist all this less than five thousand Americans regulars and 
volunteers, and of regulars less than five hundred ! 

On the morning of the. 22d of February, 1847, the Mexican cohorts ap- 
peared on the distant hills ; dense squadrons of horse, with glittering lances 
and gay pennons, forming the advance. Serried files of infantry, artillery 
and cavalry, column after column in. apparently endless massiveness, follow- 
ed, but it was Washington's birthday, and General Taylor declined to sur- 
render, and that meant hard fighting. The line of battle was formed by 
General Wool. General Taylor held Colonel Jefferson Davis (his son-in- 
law) with his Mississippi Rifles, Lieutenant Colonel May's squadron of dra- 
goons, the light batteries of Captains Sherman and Bragg and Captain Steer's 
squadron in reserve. General Lane moved forward with a section of Wash- 
ington's battery to arrest the advance of the emeny, but that enemy seemed 
irresistible. Before night the Mexicans had occupied the sides and scaled 
the summits of the Sierra Madre. That night our little army lay on their 
arms without fires, and long before daybreak were aroused from their slum- 



46 

bers to the tug of war. The day dawned bright and beautiful, skies un-i 
clouded and mountain tops bathed in sunlight. Ampudia commenced the 
the battle early, and at eight o'clock Santa Anna had his main column in' 
motion. At eleven he summoned Taylor to surrender. The fortune of tht' 
day seemed against us. General Lane in vain tried to rally the Indiana re-j 
giment. Captain Lincoln, of General Wool's staff, lost his life in attempting 
to stay the fugitives. Lieutenant O'Brien, whose name is so indelibly written 
on Buena Vista, maintained his ground till all his cannoneers were killed or 
wounded. Eight regiments of Mexican infantry fell upon the Second Ill- 
inois, and they were forced to take shelter. Bragg's and sections of Sher- 
man's batteries had been ordered to their relief. Immense hosts of Mexican 
troops poured along the base of the mountain to the rear of the American 
line. Colonel Davis hastened to meet them. The Mississippi Rifles went 
into action in double quick time, and fired advancing. The front lines of 
the enemy seemed to melt before them. In the thickest of the fight Captain' 
Bragg sent to Taylor for a supporting party. Taylor sent back the answer,' 
" Major Bliss and I will support you." He galloped to Bragg's support and 
there gave the other celebrated order, " A little more grape, Captain 
Bragg." The American line had been turned in the morning, but 
before eight it was recovered, and tne next morning the Mexican 
Army had vanished. In the success of that battle Jefferson Davis and his 
brave Mississippi Rifles justly claim a most conspicuous part. 



Copy of Jeff Davis' Letter. 

Beauvoir, p. O. 

Harrison County, Miss. 

Sept. 24, 1879. 
Charles J, Murphy, Esq., 

My Dear Sir : 

I thank you for your kind remembrance of !| 
the defence which you had the heroism to make of one whose services in the' 
past but intensified the hate of those to whom you dared to make his justifi- I 
cation. 

There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see, and the his- 
tory of the formation of our good government, so replete with the doctrine 
of State rights, seem just now at the North to be buried by an avalanche of 
prejudice too deep for those who only see the surface to know of its exist- 
ence. 

Time, it is said, puts all things even, and for the sake of the liberty we 



47 

inherited, and for the welfare of our posterity, I trust that the common 
sense of the people will, sooner or later, triumph over error and vindicate 
truth. 

Believe me to be. 

Yours faithfully, 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



The following letter of introduction is from my old and esteemed com- 
rade, Major Genl. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Ex-Governor of Maine, and now 
president of that time honored institution, Bowdoin College, who was 
honored by his people with four consecutive terms as Governor of his State, and 
was strongly urged by leading men of New England as a candidate for the 
nomination at last election as the Vice President of the United States, 
which office, or the higher one of President, he is so well qualified to fill. I 
first met the Governor nearly twenty years ago, near the battlefield where he was 
carried, and, as we supposed, mortally wounded, having been shot through the 
body,and it was my good fortune to be of some assistance to him at the time. A 
pleasant intimacy has sprung up between us which has been uninterrupted 
ever since, and he and his family are occasional and welcome guests at my 
house. The General was badly wounded five different times in as many battles 
and was the only officer that Genl. Grant ever made a full Brigadier General 
on the battle field during the war, and highly distinguished himself in most 
of the great battles as Brigade and Division Commander. I remember him 
at Fredericksburg while crossing the Rappahannock River with his division 
on the pontoon bridge, when he and his men were exposed to the galling fire 
of several field batteries stationed on the heights which decimated his ranks 
terribly, and there was no getting away under cover, but they were obliged to 
stand their ground under that murderous fire of shot and shell. The bridge 
being crowded with men they could only advance at a slow pace. It was one 
of the most dreadful ordeals to pass through of the whole war. 

Brunswick, Maine, Nov. 20th, 1882. 
To The Hon. C. J. Folger, 

Secretary of the Treasury, — 
Sir : 

I beg to present my testimony in behalf of Col. Chas. J. Murphy of New 
York City, who desires some conference with you in regard to matters com- 
ing under your jurisdiction. 

Mr. Murphy is a man deserving well of the Government and of the, 
Country. His services both in the Mexican war and in the defence of the 



48 

Union were of extraordinary value and merit. I will not go into details, 
but I take occasion to say that he is well known to me, and I know of the 
esteem in which he was held by President Lincoln and other high officers of 
the U. S. during the war, and that he is a gentleman, a man of integrity and 
high personal character, whom I sometimes see with pleasure as a guest at my 
house. His kindness to me when wounded and his loyalty to every good 
cause attaches me to him. 

Permit me to bespeak for him your kind attention. He is a conscien- 
tious man and worthy of entire confidence. 

I have the honor to be 

Your obedient servant, 

JOSHUA L. CHAMBERLAIN. 



I went to Annapolis, which was the depot for paroled prisoners of war, 
to meet my old comrades from Richmond, and having some business interests 
to attend to that kept me there, I spent considerable of my time in attending; 
to the wants of those who arrived in a destitute condition, which was invaria 
bly the case with them all, I was gratified to be able to render needed assist-- 
ance to them, as the following extracts from the correspondent of the Bal- 
tim.ore American, Captain Leslie, U. S. N., who had charge of the Naval 
Academy Buildings, will testify : 

Annapolis, Md., March 12th, 1864. 

The monotony that would have overshadowed our city after the adjourn- 
ment of our Legislature has been partially relieved by the presence of the of- 
ficers and men lately released from the loathsome prisons at Richmond. The 
liberal and popular owner of the Holland estate in this city, generously came 
forward and advanced the officers what money they needed for their present 
use, and also furnishing them with a full outfit of new clothing. This gentle- 
man was one of the first subscribers to your "Baltimore American Fund " to 
relieve the prisoners at Richmond, and, if I remember rightly, subscribed the 
first hundred dollars to that fund, that did so much to relieve and succor our 
unfortunate prisoners. Mr. Murphy is proverbial for his exceeding kindness 
to officers and men. One of the officers. Gen. Fred. Cavada, handed me the 
following little tribute in his behalf, "We were strangers and he took us in ; 
naked, and he clothed us ; hungered, and he gave us food." 

The number of deaths among the last arrival of paroled men is distressing. 
Yesterday, I saw not less than five corpses at one time being carried to the 
soldiers' burying ground. This is a sad tale to tell the country in reference 
to those who are so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the South as pris- 
oners. 

Yours, etc., MAC. 



49 

The following are extracts from the Naval Academy newspaper, the 
" Crutch," published at Annapolis : 

"Many thanks are due to Chas. J. Murphy, for distributing ice cream 
and cordials with such a liberal hand among our suffering, and whose prompt 
assistance on all needful occasions was so freely proffered. While these min- 
isteries helped to lighten the excessive labors devolving on our surgeons, they 
also lightened the sad work with such gleams of devotion and disinterestedness 
as will ever be remembered by our grateful soldiers." 



From the Baltimore American [Annapolis Correspondence), Feb'y 12, 1862. 

Presentation of a Flag. 



Lieut. John McElhany of Co. H, Thirty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment Vol- 
unteers, was presented with a splendid garrison flag by Mr. Chas. J. Murphy, 
of this city. Upon raising the flag, Lieut. John McElhany made the follow-- 
ing address : 
" Mr. Chas. J. Murphy : 

In behalf of the paroled prisoners of this camp, and more especially of 
the First Battalion, which I have for some time had the honor to command, I 
thank you in their name for your splendid and patriotic gift. 

The presentation of this flag is particularly appropriate at this time, 
when they are on the eve of departure to fight under its folds upon the 
former scenes of battle and glory. 

It is a fit testimonial to men whose patriotism serves their country not 
' only on the field, but whose good conduct in the more peaceful precincts of 
this camp shows that they are good citizens as well as brave soldiers," 



From the Crutch. 

United States Gen. Hospital, [ 
Annapolis, Md. \ 

" Two hundred and fifty of our sick prisoners were landed from the 
steamer that arrived from Savannah at the Naval Hospital during night be- 
fore last, and their condition was horrible in the extreme and fully as bad as 
the arrivals on the last steamer. The weather is extremely cold, and these 
poor fellows were mostly covered with old coffee bags to hide their naked- 
ness ; their hair long grown and matted and covered from head to foot with 
vermin, and so emaciated that the majority of them had to be carried from 
the vessel ; in fact they were mostly a mere racket of bones. It was really 



50 

oue of the most pitiful sights that was ever seen. Fifty-five of these last- 
arrivals were dead from exhaustion the next day after their arrival ; this is 
horrible. Where men are allowed to freeze and die without shelter or care, 
and their bodies permitted to become food for vermin, can there be any 
retaliation too severe ? Humanity and civilization shrink back appalled. 
I was struck with admiration at the devotion of Mr. Chas. J. Murphy, 
who is always on hand when he can render service to our needy and 
sick men. He was indefatigable in waiting on and assisting them off the 
steamer, and remained up all night till daylight engaged in this most dis- 
agreeable but loving duty ; his clothes were covered with vermin from com- 
ing in contact with the rags that covered the skeletons who landed from the 
steamer. Such devotion and real charity, so cheerfully and voluntarily ren- 
dered, cannot be too highly commended." 

MAC. 

In relation to this matter of the exchange of prisoners I happen to know 
a great deal about its inside history, gleaned from the officers in charge of the 
exchange bureau with whom T was intimate. I must say in justice to the South 
that they were most anxious for an exchange, man for man, and tried every 
means to accomplish this purpose, and at last, when all efforts failed, they 
offered to deliver all the Andersonville prisoners at Savannah without equiv- 
alent in return, as they could not any longer care for them. This offer was 
made in the summer, but steamers could not be spared till the cold weather 
set in, and the consequence was that many of our poor fellows died in the 
meantime. I will here give the information that it was not the policy of our 
government to make an exchange of prisoners, as we could better afford to 
allow our men to languish and die in prison than to be the means of adding 
fresh, healthy men to their army, which would be the consequence of releas- 
ing the many thousands of confederates in our northern prisons. 

The justice and humanity of this policy I will leave others to judge. 

There has been a great deal said and written about the cruelty of the 
Confederates towards our soldiers, and as an act of justice I will mention 
some of my experience while in their hands. 

I was captured near Sudley Church Hospital, by a squad of the Rock- 
bridge County Cavalry, under the coiiimand of Lt. Jno. S. Cummings, whose 
conduct and treatment of us was of the kindliest nature, and all that we could 
desire. I have made every effort since the war to discover his whereabouts, 
and some four years ago I heard he was practicing law in Charlotteville, Va. 
I went all the way down there purposely to see him, and to my great disap- 
pointment found he had died only a short time before. And it is due to the 
Confederacy to mention an act of magnanimity that occurred under my own 



51 

observation. Towards dusk on the day of the battle, Colonel Jones, of the 4th 
Alabama, lay mortally wounded, and I directed Sergeant Mallory of my own 
regiment and four others to bring him in on a stretcher, and make him as com- 
fortable as possible, while the physician probed his wound as he was shot 
directly through the body. He requested the names of those men, and after 
their arrival in Richmond they were allowed by the Confederate Government 
the freedom of the city, were provided with board in a private house, a sum 
of money was given to each one, and they were unconditionally released and 
sent to our lines. 

This was reported by Sargeant Mallory, and published in the New 
York Herald oi August, 1S61 ; the Sergeant was good enough also to report 
in the same article that I had charge of the wounded at the tobacco factories, 
and that I was assiduous in my attention to them, and that I had sold my 
watch to provide needed delicacies for our sick and wounded boys. 

I remember well my calling on President Davis to lay my claim for release 
before him on the same grounds, and for doing the same duty towards Col. 
Jones as Sergeant Mallory and the four men, as what they did was under my 
orders, but failed to see the President, as he was confined to his home with 
sickness. 

I will here mention a curious incident of the war : a few years ago I went 
to St. Paul, Minnesota, to visit my old friend and comrade. Dr. J. H. Stewart, 
who was taken prisoner with me. He remarked, in talking over old times 
and what occurred on the field, "Why, Murphy, don't you remember the 
three badly wounded soldiers you picked up on the battle field on that Mon- 
day night after the battle, in that drenching rain, and carried them to Manas- 
sas, six miles away, in your ambulance ? I think I do, I replied. Well, he 
says, one of them was of my regiment, and is now quite a prominent man in an 
adjoining town, and I will write him that you are here. As I was to pass 
through this town, I concluded to stop over and see this man, whose 
name I did not know, and had almost forgotten the circumstance, as it 
occurred nearly sixteen years before. All I remember was, that I accident- 
ally found the three men on the battle-field, where they lay for two days, 
badly wounded, without any attention, and brought them to Manassas, and 
gave thetn in charge of the surgeon, and that was the end of the trans- 
action. 

The Doctor indited the following letter of introduction : 

7 West 3d St., 
St Paul, April 5th, 1876. 
My dear Friend Cannon : 

The bearer, Col. C. J. Murphy, is the soldier who picked you up on the 
battle field of Bull Run, and carried you and your two companions to Man- 



62 

assas six miles away, and as he was to be in )our neighborhood and wanted.1 
to look at you for old times sake, I give him this letter to tell you who he is, 
concluding that if there is a man on the face of the earth whom you would like 
to see it is Colonel Murphy. 

Hastly but truly yours, 

J. H. STEWART. 



On my arrival at his town Mr. Cannon was at the depot to meet me, and 
I could not get away from him for two days. He treated me right royally ; 
gave a special reception at his beautiful home, and had the leading men of 
the place to meet me, and insisted on stating all the circumstances of our first 
meeting, and that I was the man under Providence who saved his life, all of 
which was very gratifying to me. He sometime afterwards presented me 
with a handsome souvenir and his picture with the whole circumstances of 
my finding him on the field written out in handsome style. Little did I think 
on that dreary night sixteen years ago, that I would meet that poor forlorn 
soldier so many years afterwards under such changed circumstances. 

As this pamphlet is chiefly intended for distribution among the members 
of Congress and of the Senate, as well as to personal friends, and as our 
Mexican Pension Bill is now pending in both Houses, I am in hopes that 
these allusions and General Shields' speech on that measure may have some 
effect in influencing our rulers to pass so just a measure, that would be of 
great relief to so many of our indigent veterans of that war. We only ask 
the small sum of eight dollars a month from the passage of the act. 

In this connection I will mention another interesting episode of meeting 
with a long-lost comrade some five years ago. I was on my way to Cincin- 
nati on business, and a gentleman boarded the train at Columbus, with whom 
I accidentally engaged in conversation, and who proved to be the Hon. 
Thos. L. Young, at that time the Governor of Ohio, and we recognized each 
other as old comrades in the Mexican war, not having met since we parted 
in Mexico thirty-five years ago, he being in the artillery and I in the infantry. 
We are now (1882) exactly of the same age (50), and the two youngest 
veterans of that war, as far as we know. He cordially invited me to attend 
his reception at Columbus, the capital of the State, on the following Thurs- 
day, on the occasion of the inauguration of the incoming Democratic Gov- 
ernor, Bishop. Governor Young was very attentive to me, and in the proces- 
sion at the grand entree placed me with the Lieutenant-Governor elect, Fitch^ 
escorted by the Secretary of State, Col. Nevins. 



53 

The following is from the Columbus Daily Despatch, Nov. i6, 1877 : 
"Col. Chas. J. Murphy, of New York, came up from Cincinnati to attend 
the reception given in honor of Gov. Young. Col. Murphy and the Governor 
were in the Mexican war, enlisted at the same time, the Governor in the 
artillery and the Colonel in the infantry. During the late war. Col. Murphy 
was on general staff service. Like the Governor, he is a son of the Emerald 
Isle. When the two get together to talk over old times, they make a royal 
double team. 

On my return to Cincinnati, the Governor wrote me the foliowing 
friendly letter : 

State of Ohio, ) 

Executive Department, \ 

Columbus, Nov. 19, 1877. ) 
CoL. C. J. Murphy : 

My Dear Friend, — 
I write to express to you my sincere thanks and great gratification for 
coming all the way from Cincinnati to attend my reception last Thursday. I 
was very glad to have the pleasure of your company on our visit with my 
wife and niece to the Central Hospital for the Insane, knowing the deep 
interest you feel in such institutions. I felt proud to have the opportunity 
to show you in part what Ohio is doing for a class of unfortunates whom 
God has afflicted with ill health mentally. I wish very much you had the 
time to spare to visit the asylums for the deaf mutes, the blind and idiotic, 
all located here, and I sincerely hope that you can make it convenient to call 
at Columbus and stay a few days with me, and talk over Mexico, before you 
return to the East. 

I think of going to Washington to-morrow night ; but if I do, I shall be 
at home before the end of the month. 

Remember me in kindness to your dear family, and hoping to meet 
you soon again, 

I remain, very truly, 

Your old comrade and friend, 

THOS. L. YOUNG. 



Death of Father Gillen. 

I heard a few days ago of the death of my dear old friend. Father 
Paul Gillen, late Chaplain of the Fifteenth New York Volunteers (engineer 
regiment), commanded by my friend and comrade in the Mexican war, Col. 



54 

John McLcod Murphy. The old gentleman, at the time of his death, was. 
upwards of eighty years of age, and his devotion to his men while in the 
field was most praiseworthy. During the heat of battle he would frequently 
expose himself to great danger, in order to minister the last rites of the 
Church to the dying men, and at last his commanding ofificer was obliged to 
order him to the rear, as he was constantly in danger of death from the fire 
of the enemy. He gained the greatest love und respect of the men of his 
regiment, both Catholic and Protestant, for his sincere devotion to them on 
the battle field and in the hospital. I well remember the dear old priest, 
when the Army of the Potomac lay camped before Richmond, on the Chick- 
ahominy, going around his camp ringing his little bell to summon his men 
to their evening devotions, which he held every night in his tent, where his 
neat little altar was fitted up, and where he offered up every morning the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He was latterly stationed at Notre Dame, 
Indiana, and was frequently in New York, and never failed to call on me 
when in the city, and was frequently a welcome guest at my house in Brook- 
lyn, and his reminiscences of the war were very interesting. He was a good 
and holy man, and has gone to his reward. 

I cannot finish my reminiscences without mentioning the names of five 
gallant officers who came to this country from Rome, where they held com- 
missions in the Papal army, and had letters of high recommendation from 
His Holiness the Pope. They were immediately commissioned in the 
army, and served with great distinction through the war, and I became quite 
intimately acquainted with four of these gentlemen — Col. Keiley, Lt. Col. 
Mulhall, Major Kehoe, and Capt. O'Keefe. Col. Keiley survived the war, 
and died since in Louisiana; Col. Mulhall was several times wounded, and is 
now a neighbor of mine in Brooklyn; poor Capt. O'Keefe died in hospital at 
Washington from the effects of wounds received in battle. I heard of his 
being mortally wounded, and repaired to Washington to see him. I had only 
reached the hospital when the gallant fellow breathed his last ; and what a 
magnificent type of a soldier he was — over six feet high, and a thorough gen- 
tleman in every respect. Gallant Major Kehoe was killed by Sitting Bull's 
band at the time Gen. Custer met his death. One of the forts in the Indian 
country is named Fort Kehoe in his honor. The other survivor of these five 
splendid officers is Lieut.-Col. Coppinger, U. S. army, who is now with his 
regiment in Arizona, N. M. 



55 

Governor's Island, New York Harbor, ) 
Sept. 15, 1880. ) 

Col. Chas. J. Murphy, 

48 Vesey Street, 

New York City. 
Dear Comrade : 

I regret exceedingly that your kind invitation to be present on the 14th 
inst. at the annual celebration by our Mexican Veteran Association (of which 
I am a member) of the capture of the City of Mexico, did not come to my 
notice soon enough for a timely reply. 

It would have given me great pleasure to be with my old comrades, the 
veterans, on an occasion so full of interest to them and to myself ; but the 
demands upon my time would in any event have prevented acceptance. 

It recalls pleasant associations in the^Mexican war, as well as in the recent 
war. I am mindful of the complimentary terms in which you speak of me, 
and I thank you for the kind assurances you offer. 

Very truly yours, 

WINFIELD S. HANCOCK. 



Personal Matters. 



General Grant is a modest, unassuming man, and on first taking com- 
mand was regarded as a curiosity by the soldiers, on account of his plainness 
of dress, in comparison with the young and new-fledged colonels and less 
advanced officers, and particularly a shocking bad stovepipe hat, Avhich he 
wore for a long time before donning a military tile. The General is a man 
of business, and very popular with the troops. He appears about forty-five 
years of age, sandy complexion, reddish beard, medium height, pleasant, 
twinkling eyes, and he weighs about one hundred and seventy pounds. He 
smokes continually. He is a strict disciplinarian, and an example of General 
Grant's strict government of the troops in his department will be gathered 
from the following : On the night of the 7th of November, a portion of the 
20th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, at Jackson, Tenn., entered a store 
and some tents, and took therefrom a quantity of goods and destroyed the 
tents, the damage amounting to ^1,242.66. Upon complaint of the suffering 
party, and a failure to ferret out the men guilty of the offence, the General 
issued a special field order. 



66 

The two sections embodying the penalty will be read with interest. 
They read as follows : i. That the said sum of $1,242.66 be assessed against 
said regiment, and the officers herein named (the names being given), except- j 
ing such enlisted men as were at the time sick in the hospital, or absent with 1 
proper authority ; that the same be charged against them on the proper mus- 
ter and pay rolls, and the amount each is to pay noted opposite his name 
thereon, the officers to be assessed pro rata with the men on the amount of 
their pay proper ; and that the same so collected will be paid by the com- 
manding officer of the regiment to the parties entitled to the same. 2. That 
Captain Orton Frisbe and Captain John Zunison, of the 20th Illinois Infant- 
ry Volunteers, for wilful neglect of duty and violation of orders, are hereby 
mustered out of the service of the United States, to take effect this day. 



General Lee on Invasion. 



A correspondent of the New York Commercial Advertiser, writing from 
Gettysburg, July 7, relates a talk between General Lee and a mill owner of 
this State, during the recent invasion. 

General Lee's confiscation of paper at the mills near Mount Holly 
Springs has been mentioned, Mr. Given, one of the sufferers, at whose house 
the General breakfasted, gives me some facts of interest. " It is not that we 
love the Pennsylvanians," observed Lee, " that we refuse to let our men 
engage in plundering private citizens. We could not otherwise keep up the 
morale of the army. A rigid discipline must be maintained, or the men would 
be worthless." "In fact," adds Mr. G., "I must say, that they acted like 
gentlemen, and, their cause aside, I would rather have forty thousand Rebels 
quartered on my premises than one thousand Union troops. The Colonel of 
one of the New York regiments (militia) drove his horse into the engine-room 
of my mill, a place which must be kept as clean as a parlor ; the men broke 
all the locks, and defiled every apartment from basement to garret. Yet all 
this time I have been quartering sick soldiers at my house, and my new hotel 
is thrown open to the men to sleep in free of charge." 

If the insurgents "acted somewhat humanely by the way, they exacted an 
ample recompense from the citizens of Gettysburg. After getting posses- 
sion on Wednesday, they advised the people to leave. Those who did so had 
their houses broken into and robbed without mercy. Everything was carried 
off that could be made use of, and what could not be was torn, soiled, defaced, 
or rendered useless. With the influx of strangers, the destruction of property, 
and the railroad in the hands of Government agents, it is positively difficult to 



57 

get enough to eat, except " hard tack," and even that is not easily come at- 
able by civilians. 

Notwithstanding my esteem for the soldiers of both Union and Confed- 
erate armies, it appears apropos in this connection to quote from two clip- 
pings from newspapers copied above. 

It may not be amiss here also to mention that some bad men were in our 
army as will be found in all armies, and I was made a sufferer by their spirit 
of wantoness and desire for plunder. On the arrival at Annapolis of the 
eleven thousand paroled Union soldiers captured at Harpers Ferry, under Gen. 
Miles, there were not sufficient troops to keep them under proper discipline 
and subjection, and led by a few of their drunken leaders, some thousand or 
more of them made an attack on one of my buildings, and carried away the 
entire stock of general merchandise, and not being satisfied at completely 
gutting the warehouse they attacked the building which was one hundred 
feet in length and thirty in width, and left it a total wreck', thereby causing 
me an actual loss of some twenty thousand dollars. 

This action of these unruly men created a panic in the City of Annapo- 
lis. The Bank removed its funds to a greater place of safety, as they expect- 
ed a raid on it ; the citizens were in a great state of alarm and excitement 
until troops could be sent to restore order, and some time afterwards another 
building of mine was sacked in the same manner without any cause, but by 
a different set of soldiers, and I was obliged to passively witness in both 
cases the pillage and destruction of my property which was the result of the 
savings of a life time, and the Government has not reimbursed me to this 
day to the extent of a dollar. 

I merely mention these incidents to show that the cruelty, &c., 
charged was not all on the side of the Southern soldiers, and no doubt 
they had some bad men among them too. I often recur to the hanging 
of the poor unfortunate Confederate, Capt. Wirz, for cruelty at Anderson- 
ville, and from what I knew of that case, and from the character of 
some of those soldiers who gave testimony on that trial, I feel that 
his execution was an unjust act. I knew the man well. He was the prison 
clerk at Richmond, while I was a captive there, and was known among 
us at the .time as the old Dutch sergeant, and was the first man who dis- 
covered our escape, as it was his duty to call the roll of the officers 
every morning, and he always appeared to me, and I saw him every day 
while I was a prisoner, a quiet inoffensive man. 



58 
Second Battle of Bull Run. 



Extract from Report of Surgeon Alex. McLetchie, "jgth Regiment New York 
Volunteers {^Highlanders), to Brigade Surgeon Norval. 



" I was also ably assisted in the care of the wounded and in providing 
proper quarters for them, during all day and far into the nightof the day after 
the battle, by Mr. C. J. Murphy,who volunteered his services for this duty, his 
intelligedce and tact in organizing a temporary hospital, in directing affairs 
and in aiding the sprgeons amid so much confusion, and in a pouring rain- 
storm, was all that could be desired, and I trust will be properly acknowl- 
edged." 

This brings to my memory the afternoon of the 29th of August, 1862, at 
Washington, when despatches were received from Gen. Pope announcing a 
great victory on the old battle-field. The War Department sent out word 
by posting written notices at the hotels that volunteers were needed at once 
to look after the wounded. I immediately ordered my horse saddled, and 
filling my saddle-bags with bottles of whiskey, v/hich is so necessary for 
wounded men, I called over on G street to see if my friend and former 
iellow-prisoner of war, that noble lady, Mrs. Major-General Ricketts, wished 
to send any word to her husband, who was in command of a Division in the 
battle. I found her considerably excited, not knowing at the time the fate 
of the General. She hurriedly wrote a few lines to him, which I took with 
me, and started off towards dark over the long bridge into Virginia, and hur- 
rying on through Alexandria, passing the outer pickets at Munson's Hill, 
when it soon began to pour down rain in torrents, and after wearily riding 
on in the gloom of the night, towards dawn I overtook the old fighting Sec- 
ond Corps, under the command of Gen. Sumner, afterwards commanded 
by one of the greatest soldiers of the war, the invincible Gen. W. S. 
Hancock, who was so beloved and idolized by his men. They were on the 
way to reenforce Gen. Pope, marching in three columns. I rode ahead of 
the main body in the road, and accidentally overtook the Irish Brigade, un- 
der command of my old friend Gen. Meagher, whose regiment had halted 
on the side of the road, away up to the front, and on the extreme right, the 
position they were generally found in when fighting was expected. The 
poor men were completely drenched through and jaded out, having been on 
the march allnight in that fearful rain. One of my bottles of whiskey was 
soon extinguished by the brigade commander and a few of the officers, 
among whom was my old friend Cavanagh, then Major, and now Colonel com- 



f.9 

manding the gallant N. Y. 69th Regiment. I resumed my journey to the 
battlefield, and soon reached Fairfax Court House, as day was breaking, and 
going a mile or two beyond, first encountered the crowd of wounded and strag- 
glers on their way towards the town from the battlefield, and this was the 
first intimation I had of the fearful disaster, and not wishing to run the risk 
of being a prisoner for the second time, retraced my steps back, weary and 
disappointed, to Fairfax, where I met my old friend Dr. McLetchie, of the 
79th N. Y. in charge of the hospital arrangements, and to whom I tendered 
my services in doing what little I could towards caring far the disabled men 
who were now coming in in large numbers from the battlefield, and being in 
the saddle all the night before and tired out, I am afraid my efforts were of 
very little account, although the doctor, who is a warm-hearted man, was kind 
enough to think they were worth while mentioning to his brigade surgeon in 
his report. About midnight on that occasion I remember the Doctor and I 
were both pretty well used up and wet through, as it rained all day, and we 
concluded it was time to take some needed rest ; and as every house was 
crammed full of the Avounded, we finally got into a barn on the edge of the 
few scattered houses that composed the town, that was already occupied by 
the men of a full company of artillery, one hundred in number, and by dint 
of hard squeezing we managed to crowd in, and by lying spoon-fashion, or 
like sardines packed in a box, we managed to fix ourselves comfortably 
(under the circumstances), and were soon in a sound sleep. As daylight 
dawned we were all up, and I was soon in my saddle and off on the road to 
Washington, feeling sad and sorrowful at the thought of our disastrous 
defeat. As I approached Alexandria I overtook an ambulance with an 
escort consisting of a brigade surgeon, a staff officer and an orderly, and on 
inquiring who was in the ambulance was astonished and grieved to hear that 
it contained the body of my old division commander, the brave and daring 
Gen: Phil. Kearney, killed at Chantilly. I accompanied the escort until we 
arrived at the embalmer's in Washington, where the body of my late be- 
loved commander was brought in on an old door, to be prepared for burial, 
and sent on to New York, where it now rests in Trinity Church yard, at 
the head of Wall street, on Broadway. 

While I am writing of this second Bull Run battle, it is fitting to allude 
to the case of that gallant but ill-used and misjudged officer, the old com- 
mander of the Fifth Corps, who saved the army of the Potomac at Gaines's 
Mill. I mean Gen. Fitz John Porter, in whose integrity, faithfulness and loyalty 
I always had the greatest confidence, even all through the former trial, when 
he was so fearfully maligned, and I am glad to see even at this late day that 
justice is about being done him, in which the whole country, particularly the 
soldiers of the war, will insist on and see that he is fully recompensed and 



60 

returned to his proper rank in the army, to all of which he is fully entitled, 
and more too. 

In my opinion it was the opportune arrival of Sumner's Second Corps 
on the field near Bull Run that saved Pope's beaten army from annihilation, 
as they covered the retreat and protected Pope's rear by getting in between 
them and the Confederates, who were in close pursuit. If it were not for 
this timely assistance the victorious Southerners would have marched on to 
Washington unopposed, and threatened the capture of the seat of Govern- 
ment, which was no doubt their object. This splendid action of the Second 
Corps enabled Gen. McClellan to hurriedly reorganize Pope's beaten army, 
and including Sumner's troops, by forced marches, crossed over into Mary- 
land to oppose the Confederates, who had already crossed over on the upper 
Potomac, with the object of getting to the rear of Washington, when they 
were met by that able general, and so signally defeated at Antietam, and 
driven again over into Virginia, thereby saving the City from inevitable cap- 
ture, for if Pope's army had been annihilated we had no other troops suffi- 
ciently near Washington to oppose such an army as Lee's, and the city was 
almost entirely undefended on the northern side, which Lee would have 
attacked. The country don't generally know how near Washington 
was captured at one time, when Gen. Early got as near to the city 
as the head of Seventh street, and only for the opportune arrival of the 
Sixth Corps, under my friend Gen. H. G. Wright (now Chief Engineer of the 
Army) from Alexandria, who hurried out and met Early just outside the city 
limits, on the Seventh street road, and defeated him and saved Washington. 

It was Lee's great object to capture the city, and Mr. Lincoln's greatest 
anxiety was to keep it always well covered with troops at convenient dis- 
tances. This was the reason Gen. McDowell, with so large an army, was 
kept so long unemployed. 



Extracts from Colonel Murphy's Letter. 



48 Vesey Street, New York. 
To the Editor of the Providence Daily Journal : 

I have been solicited by my friend and comrade, General Viall, and 
other prominent ofificers of the Second Rhode Island Regiment, to write 
some reminiscences of the scenes that occurred at the Sudley Church Hos- 
pital after the battle of Bull Run, where I assisted in the care of Colonel 
Slocum and Major Ballou, and nearly three hundred other wounded soldiers'. 
Since you were good enough to make a complimentary allusion to my name 



61 

as one of the invited guests, I send the article to you, thinkin^^ that it may 
prove of interest to your readers, and feeling at the same time that it gives 
me an opportunity of contradicting reports which were then made, alleging 
cruelty to our wounded on the part of the Confederate soldiers, the contrary 
of which, I am glad to say, is true. 



" Towards dusk we had twenty-eight dead bodies which we placed in a 
row in front of the church, who had died during the night and that day, and 
the amputated limbs and pieces of flesh accumulated to such a degree that 
they were almost on a level with the table used for amputating under the 
pulpit of the church, and the stench arising therefrom was beginning to be 
terribly offensive to the living wounded men lying crowded together on the 
floor of that charnel house, and we began to be alarmed for the sake of the 
living as to the disposition of the bodies, as we had no force to bury them. 
I at last hit on the expediency of interring them in a small ice-house connect- 
ed with one of the buildings, and had just broken the lock of the door, when 
we were summoned by Captain White, of the Confederate Cavalry, who, with 
t a small squad of men, had charge of us, to immediately prepare ourselves to 
move off to Manassas, six miles away, in pursuance of an order he had just 
received from General Johnston, and leave all our wounded comrades with- 
. out one man to care for them. We expostulated with him and tried to prove 
I that the order did not intend to include the surgeons, and pointed out the 
enormity of such an unparalleled act of inhumanity, to abandon nearly three 
hundred wounded men to their fate, many of whose wounds were not even 
examined ; but to all our entreaties he turned a deaf ear. He answered 
that he was very sorry, but he must obey his orders, when we told him that 
we would yield only to force. Nothing would satisfy him. Go we must. So 
we had to submit to the inevitable, and prepared to start off at once, and in 
a drenching rain. We hurriedly entered the church and the other buildings 
to bid our poor disabled comrades good-bye, and the scene at parting beg- 
gars all description. God spare me from ever witnessing such a dreadful 
I spectacle again. I have seen service in Mexico and many of the great battles 
I of the war since, but nothing has ever been so indelibly impressed on 
my memory as the solemn, heart-rending leave-taking with those brave, 
patient and suffering men. They lay there in their agony on those bare 
floors, with nought on which to rest their weary heads but the hard 
boards, with no friendly hand near to give succor, no dear mother nor 
kindly sister to tenderly and affectionately care for and soothe their last 
moments in that supreme hour of their affliction, and no good priest to pour 
the consolations of religion in the hearts of those who were about to wing 
their way into eternity. 



"When they came to realize that we were about to abandon them, their 
lamentations and cries were heartrending to listen to ; but go we must. I 
will never forget the look of anguish on the f^ce of brave Major Ballou, when; 
I took his cold, clammy hand in mine to bid him farewell. He was the last 
one of whom I took leave, and the noble fellow was called to his final 
account next morning. Col. Slocum also breathed his last during that night. 
Cursed be the causes that led to that cruel and fratricidal war. 

" On our arrival at Manassas at eleven o'clock that night, we reported 
to the surgeon in charge, and informed him of the condition of the men left at 
the Sudley Church, when he expressed great surprise and indignation at our 
being ordered away, which he said was never intended, as the order only 
related to able-bodied prisoners, and left it optional with us to return at once, 
or remain until morning ; it was then near midnight, our clothing was thor- ^ 
oughly drenched, and the surgeons had been up the previous night and j 
most of the night before the battle, and were utterly exhausted and needed 
some rest, and knowing they were in a condition to be of little service that 
night, we concluded to wait until daylight, and start back then without delay. 

"I cannot close this article without mentioning the magnificent services , 
at that Hospital of Dr. Harris, of your Second Rhode Island ; Dr. J. H. , 
Stewart, of the First Minnesota, Member of Congress from the St. Paul Dis- 
trict last year ; Dr. G. S. Winston, Eighth New York State Militia, sen of 
the President and Physician to the New York Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany ; Dr. William F. Swalm, of the Brooklyn Fourteenth New York State 
Militia ; Dr. Sternberg, United States Army ; the lamented Dr. Peugnet, of 
New York, lately killed on the New Haven Railroad, and other surgeons who 
remained and nobly did more than their duty. I cannot fail to express my 
admiration for the devotion of those indefatigable and noble men, who by 
their skillful hands and sympathetic hearts and untiring zeal, ministered to 
the pressing necessities of our soldiers, and I hope their countrymen have 
appreciated their splendid and humane work. 

" In justice to Capt. White, of the Confederate cavalry, afterward killed 
in battle, I would say that his ordering us away was more the result of 
ignorance than cruelty, and his anxiety to obey orders as he understood 
them. I saw the man shed tears at the scene of our leave-taking, and I also 
saw him give his blanket from under his saddle for a wounded man to lie on. 
I afterward saw it stated in a Northern paper " that the Confederates on guard 
there refused to allow our men to catch the water that fell from the eaves of 
the houses to drink, and that they had burned the bodies of Col. Slocum and 
Major Ballou and others," all of which is untrue. 

I arrived at Nashua, N. H., a few years ago ; on the evening of my arri- 
val I learned that my friend General Joshua L. Chamberlain was to lee- 



G3 

ture on " Gettysburgh," and determined to go and hear him. On visiting 
the hall I was courteously invited to a seat on the platform. In the course 
of his lecture, the General, among a number of other thrilling incidents 
and episodes of the battle, mentioned one special act of gallantry which 
came under his immediate observation. He had command of a division 
at Round Top, one of the most important points on the field, and from 
there saw, after a most determined struggle, the enemy capture one of our 
batteries, killing most of the men and all the officers with the exception 
of one. It was a grand charge and a gallant defence, said the General, 
and victory did not long remain with the enemy, for the officer of whom 
I had spoken, rallied by superhuman efforts, such force as he could from 
the broken regiments, and inspiring them with his own fire and enthusi- 
asm assailed the victors and recaptured the lost guns. Later in the battle 
this officer, a young Irishman was killed. After the lecture I asked the 
General if he could recollect his name, and he replied that he did not 
know it. Afterwards, however, I took some trouble to discover who this 
young Irishman was that had borne himself so bravely, and was surprised 
to learn that it was Captain James M. Rorty, with whom I was in the early 
days of the war well acquainted, Ave having been fellow prisoners in Rich- 
)mond. He had entered the war at the commencement, as a private, in the 
Sixty-Ninth regiment, and was made a prisoner at Bull Run, with Colonel 
(Corcoran and a number of others. He escaped from Libby after a few- 
months imprisonment, and after a journey full of incidents of danger and 
adventure, crossed the Potomac river on a raft, and reached Washington 
on the eleventh day from leaving Richmond, communicated important infor- 
mation to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, and then came on to New 
York, where he immediately interested himself in getting up a troop for 
the Fifth New York Cavalry, then being organized by Genl. Meagher. In 
this regiment he obtained a lieutenant's commission, which he retained on 
the consolidation of the command with the artillery. He was in all the 
battles of the Peninsula, was ordnance officer of Richardson's division 
until Antietam, and at Fredericksburgh held the same position under Gen- 
eral Hancock, who afterwards secured his appointment as Commander of 
Battery B, ist New York Artillery. Fighting with this he fell at Gettysburgh. 



64 

To show the interest my old friend took in his old comrades, I here re- 
produce a copy "of his speech delivered in the U. S. Senate, on the Mexican 
War Pension Bill, and which is so interesting I give it in full : 

Pensions to Soldiers of the Mexican War. 



Speech of Hon. James Shields, of Missouri, in the Senate of the 
United States, February 20, 1879. 



Mr. Shields said : 

Mr. President : I thank the Senate for giving me an opportunity to 
speak a few words in this place in favor of my old comrades of the Mexican 
war. My words shall be very brief indeed. They will be nothing more than 
an earnest appeal to this body to pass the resolution just read, and when the 
bill returns to the Senate that the resolution calls for, to pass that bill also, 
and then, in my opinion, this body will have done generous justice to the 
soldiers of the Mexican war. 

The soldiers of the last war have been treated by Congress with justice^ 
and, in my opinion, with very commendable liberality. The soldiers of the 
Mexican war have not been so treated. Those soldiers served their country- 
and have received nothing in the way of generosity at the hands of the Con-f 
gress of the United States. I wonder not at seeing the services of young- 
soldiers handsomely rewarded ; but the wonder is at seeing the services of: 
old soldiers almost forgotten. They complain that Congress has neglected 
to listen to their appeals. In my opinion, sir, after all. Congress is not much 
in fault. I think the fault principally lies upon the Bureau of Pensions. ■' 
That bureau, by some process of calculation utterly unintelligible to ordinary 
intellects, or at least to an intellect like my own, has reported to Congress a 
larger army of Mexican veterans alive to-day' than ever stood on Mexican 
soil with arms in their hands at one time during the whole period of the 
Mexican war. No wonder Congress hesitated to make provision for such an. 
army after such a report as that. The only^ wonder is that any intelligent 
Congress could place implicit confidence in such a report. For my part, I 
do not place implicit confidence in bureau estimates. I have seen too many 
of them to place great reliance on them. It is said that the famous Dr. John- 
son, when asked if he believed in the existence of ghosts, said : " Ghosts I 
do not believe in, because I have seen too many of them." [Laughter.] So, 
Mr. President I say in regard to bureau estimates. 

There have been many attempts to obtain returns of the survivors of 
the Mexican war from every State in this Union, and the returns which have \ 
been obtained by the associations concerned are as accurate as any returns 



65 

can be in all probability in such a case ; and what are these returns ? That 
in the whole Union at this day there are not eleven thousand Mexican veter- 
ans alive. I need no report from any burean to enlighten my mind on a 
point like this. 

I cannot call the death-roll of the American Army that served in Mex- 
ico ; but, sir, I can, and if the Senate permits me I will, call the death-roll 
of the general officers that served in that army in Mexico : Scott, Taylor. 
Wool, Worth, Twiggs, Kearney, Quitman, Pillow, Pierce, Gushing, Cadwala- 
der — all gone ; all dead. I, the humblest of them all, am left to make this 
appeal to Congress — to make it with heart and voice — to do something ; to 
do it speedily ; to do it before they are all gone. Sir, if it is not done speed- 
ily, if it is deferred a few sessions longer, it will come too late ; for then the 
favors of Congress will not come to cheer living men, but will fall on silent 
graves. 

Sir, do not talk to me of those exaggerated estimates reported by the 
bureau. I can give figures of my own. One of the regiments of my brigade 
a regiment from the state of my friend near me, [Mr. Butler,] when it landed 
in Mexico mustered eleven hundred gallant men. When the war was closed, 
when the city of Mexico was taken, that regiment mustered what ? Two 
hundred and twenty-three men. Only two hundred and twenty-three men 
of that gallant regiment were left to carry the Palmetto flag back to the 
old State of South Carolina ; and how many men of the two hundred 
and twenty-three are now left ? Just eight. A delegate has come up 
from there to attend a meeting in Baltimore, and he is here to-day, and 
perhaps hears me now, and he tells me there are only eight men of that 
whole regiment now left alive. Sir, you may go over the States, and I 
have been over 'many of them, and of the men I knew in Mexico and 
who fought in the battles there, I cannot find one man living to-day out 
of every twenty or thirty. This illustrates the way Congress has been im- 
posed upon. 

Sir, I need not talk of the history of the Mexican war in this Senate. 
You are familiar with it, although I must say that there is no history of 
that war that does even half justice. Neither need I talk of the army that 
conquered Mexico, but I can say in one word that no nation upon this globe 
need be ashamed of such an army. I say here to-day ; I say it because it 
is due to that army ; I say it because it is due to the American character, 
that no government ever sent an army into a foreign country better, braver, 
nobler than the army America sent to Mexico. Why, sir, from the first shot 
fired on the Rio Grande to the last shot fired at the city of Mexico, that 
army never suffered a single defeat, never lost a battle, never met a repulse, 



66 

surrendered a detachment, never even suffered an accidental disaster. Where' 
can you find anything like that ? 

But some men may say : " You had only Mexicans to fight !" Yes, very 
true, we had only Mexicans to fight, and we had plenty of them to fight. 
But ask the soldiers of France, and they are as brave soldiers as can be 
found in Europe ; ask them their experience of these despised Mexicans, 
and they will tell you frankly that in all Europe there is no peasantry that 
are less afraid of death than these very Mexicans. I ought perhaps to ex- 
cept the Irish and the Anglo-Saxons, and the Germans also ; but I tell you 
the Mexicans stand killing as well as any people on God's earth, and they 
had plenty of it while we were there. [Laughter.] 

Sir, if this government ever undertakes to walk over Mexico again with 
the expectation of having the same result, they will find themselves much 
disappointed. I assure you that it is my opinion, without saying one word 
against the American Army now, that if the soldiers of the American Army 
were just such soldiers as first starved and then killed the Cheyennes on a 
recent occasion, they will never get to the halls of the Montezumas, except 
as prisoners of war. That is my honest opinion. 

Sir, that little army that is now gone, except a few broken remnants, was 
as conspicuous for its humanity as for its distinguished bravery. I undertake 
to say here to-day that Mexican life, Mexican property, family honor all over | 
Mexico, were as well protected during the American occupation as they had 
ever been before, or have been since. I say further, and I say it on the 
honor of a man, that no army ever invaded a foreign country that committed 
so few offences as the army that operated in Mexico, and I am not sure but 
that the men committed fewer offences than the same number of men living 
in civil life now in the United States of America. If you ask me why, I 
will tell you. It was, first, discipline ; and, second, not speaking of the 
commanding officers, who were the best America could furnish (not including 
myself, of course, but speaking of the rank and file), they were simple, honest, 
brave, manly, generous and humane. It is said there are about ten thousand 
of them still left, and I say here now, ^nd I will thank any man to correct 
me if I am mistaken, that I do not think in all America you will find one of 
them in the penitentiary. They would die before they would commit a. 
crime. Some of them may die in the poor-house, but you may take my 
word for it, no soldier of this nation who fought in the battles of Mexico > 
will ever die the inmate of an American penitentiary. 

If the Senate will bear with me, I will justify the truth of this assertion 
by a reference — a brief reference — to the campaigns. 

In the fall of 1846 a Missouri regiment, nine hundred strong, under 
Colonel Doniphan, took its departure for Mexico. That regiment executed 



67 

a march of some two thousand miles ; deserts were crossed and arid plains ; 
they passed through the Jorrada del Muerto, the journey of the dead, as it 
was called ; passed the Rio Grande at El Paso ; swept opposition of every 
kind before them ; entered and captured the city of Chiahuahua, and in all 
the march never committed a single.crime, and never met with a single defeat. 
Ought men of that kind to be forgotten ? Any government that forgets 
such men is not a government to encourage national heroism of any kind. 
But the public are better acquainted with what occurred on the Rio Grande. 
I can hardly find in history a spectacle more interesting and more romantic 
than my old friend, Zachary Taylor, " old Rough and Ready," standing 
there at the head of three or four thousand men confronting a whole nation 
of ten millions. That campaign commenced at Palo Alto, and commenced 
brilliantly, and it ended at Buena Vista ; and you all know it ended in a 
blaze of glory. Sir, I reckon Buena Vista as one of those battles that will 
always stand foremost in history. 

Then look at the other campaign, beginnin g at Vera Cruz, under Win- 
field Scott. The capture of that city is as splendid as any military achieve- 
ment. The Gibraltar of Mexico was taken by a little American army, with 
a less loss of life on the part of the assailants than was ever suffered in any 
assault. This was owing to the skill and consummate genius of the com- 
mander, the excellence of our engineers, and the splendid management of 
American artillery at that time. 

Then there was Cerro Gordo. I have some reminiscences of that which 
I shall not forget. There was a natural fortress defended by the Mexicans. 
That natural position, perhaps, is the strongest in Mexico itself. The strength 
of that position was great in itself, besides the strength of the Mexican 
army defending it, and they were nearly double the strength of the American 
army assailing it. It was considered an impregnable position. And yet 
Cerro Gordo was carried with such a small sacrifice of life that to military 
men of that day, all over the world, it was a matter of astonishment. Sir, 
in my humple opinion Cerro Gordon ranks with and is only second to the 
battle of New Orleans under old Andrew Jackson. 

But I will not delay the Senate ; I will not abuse its courtesy. On the 
loth day of August, 1847, ten thousand men crossed the mountains and en- 
tered the romantic valley of Mexico. It was an adventurous movement. 
That army abandoned its communications, its supplies, its very possibility 
of reinforcement. That was its condition ; and yet, isolated as it was, small 
in numbers as it was, it fought the battles and gained the victories of Con- 
treras, Cherubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and on the 13th day of 
September, 1847, it found itself before the ramparts of Mexico ; and how 
many men stood before these ramparts, all told ? Six thousand six hundred 



68 I 

! 

men on the 13th day of September, 1847, crossed those ramparts, captured 
the city — a city containing two hundred thousand inhabitants, and defended 
by thirty thousand disciplined soldiers. Give me any other instance of the 
kind in history. Why, sir, the army was hardly sufficient to police the city 
after they captured it. When I myself stand here and look back at that, it 
looks to me more like fable than reality. I shall never forget the insignifi- 
cant appearance we cut when we got into the great plaza of the city ofl 
Mexico. Happily, though, they thought we were only the advance guard off 
some tremendous army. I recollect an old English 7Jiilitaire who was there,, 
and after he looked at the little band, he said : " Is this the army ?" "Yes."' 
"Well," said he, "all I have to say is this, you Americans are not only the: 
bravest people I ever heard of, but the most audacious people on God's; 
earth to come here with such an army as that !" 

Then, sir, think of the acquisitions that have been secured to this coun- 
try by that army. They are not to be estimated now ; they are not calcula- 
ble at this time. The future only can estimate the value of the acquisitions ; 
accruing from that war, a territory sufficient to make an empire, certainly 
large enough for another independent country, with unsurpassed mineral . 
wealth, mines of gold and silver that have changed the monetary condition 
of the world. Why, sir, Europe was struck with astonishment a year or two 
ago at the idea that this our territory acquired from Mexico was about to 
deluge the whole world with an inundation of silver. I wish to God the 
American Congress would turn a little stream of that flood in the direction 
of our Mexican war veterans. I am very sure we could stand under the 
deluge. 

Now, sir, one advantage — not to speak of the harvest of glory which 
we foolishly thought we had reaped at that time, but a harvest, as I say, of 
real, substantial advantage — in addition to the territory and mineral wealth, 
is this, and future ages will consider it, and that is, the command of the 
great Pacific Ocean — the greatest ocean upon this globe — which will remain 
in our control " to the last syllable of recorded time," if this Republic shall 
last so long. 

Sir, the remnant of that army — the army which did so much for this 
country — speak, as it were, through me to-day, hold up their hands in sup- 
plication to this body and this Congress, and say : " Give us a little of that 
we helped to secure for our country ; give us a small pittance before we 
leave the world ; give us a pittance to help us on the downward path of life 
in our old age ; give us something to assist us in our last days when we are 
marching to that field from which no warrior has ever yet returned victorious, 
and never will." 



69 

Sir, I thank the Senate for the kind attention which has been bestowed 
on me, and for the courtesty of permitting me to make such a speech as 
this ; and were it not that it might look like taking advantage of that cour- 
tesy, I would move now that the resolution be taken up and passed and 
sent to the committee, in order to have the bill reported speedily. 

As a reminiscence of the Mexican War, the following letter from Stone- 
wall Jackson, written when a very young man, will be, no doubt, of interest, 
and would add, that after it had done good service, at the fair of our new 
cathedral, N. Y., I sent it down, framed, to Savannah, Ga.. to my old friend, 
the good bishop of that diocese, Right Rev. Dr. Gross, and a considerable 
sum was realized from it for the benefit of his beautiful new cathedral. It 
is proposed here to mention the devotion of the bishop when only a plain 
priest, to our sick and dying soldiers at Annapolis during the war, where 
he was stationed at the time. I remember we often walked together to and 
from camp, when he was on those errands of mercy and consolation. I have 
the satisfaction of saying that the acquaintance commenced there, has 
been kept up ever since, and I am in receipt occasionally of long and friendly 
letters from his grace, and one of my boys who was lately appointed to the 
U. S. Military Academy, at West Point, was baptised by the good bishop. 
I remember so many of the priests of St. Mary's at Annapolis were so assidi- 
ous in their spiritual attentions to our sick, that as an act of gratitude, one or 
two of us put our heads together, and got up a handsome collection amount- 
ing to $^5°) enough to purchase a beautiful altar chair for the Celebrant of 
the Mass, two nicely carved marble holy water founts, and silver-plated 
numbers for all the pews. While on a visit there a couple of years ago, I had 
the privilege of sitting in the same old chair in the Episcopal or Bishop's re- 
ception room in the Redemptionist College attached to that church, which was 
formerly the residence of Chas. Carroll, of Carrolton, who was the last survi- 
vor of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. 



An Autograph Letter of Stonewall Jackson. 



The following letter, written by Stonewall Jackson when a lieutenant of 
artillery in Mexico, has been presented by Colonel C. J. Murphy, of New 
York, to Mrs. Eugene Kelly, in charge of one of the tables at the Cathedral 
Fair. General Jackson was an old comrade of Colonel Murphy in the Mexi- 
can War : — 

City of Mexico, Oct. 25, 1847. 

Dear Cousin — Since I last had the pleasure of visiting yourself and 
mother, I have been in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Cin- 



70 

cinnali, New Orleans, Matamoras, Camcargo, Monterey, Saltillo, at the siege 
of Vera Cruz, and at the battles of Cerro-Gordo, and in this valley. In the 
recent battles, I have sustained much loss in the way of material. At Con- 
treras I had a number of the horses of my section killed, and on the 
13th of September I had all the horses in my pieces killed but one, 
and my own wounded. But I succeeded in forcing my position, and pursu- 
ing and opening such a fire on the retreating column as I have desired during 
the past portion of this war. Poor John Thompson, of Clarksburgh, lost 
his leg, and died a few days subsequently. Many brave officers and men 
have lived to see, but not to enter, the capital of the heaven-doomed 
nation. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have been spoken of 
in flattering terms by General Pillow, and that General Worth even went 
out of his own and entered the division of another general, in his report, 
to speak of my conduct. I feel prouder of the source from which it 
has come. General Worth sent an order to me to retire, but I replied that, 
with one company of regulars, I could carry the works, to v/hich he ordered 
a brigade. I mention this, believing that it will be a source gratification 
to my friends and relatives. The army has finally entered the city, and 
our banner waves over the national palace of Mexico with as much pride as 
over our own. No reinforcements have yet arrived, but they are this side of 
Vera Cruz. I am living with some fine Spanish friends, and learning the 
language. The Lepros (lowest order of the people) are still killing our sol- 
diers. Many families of respectability had left the City previous, and 
have not yet returned. The editor of the Monitor (a Mexican) a few days 
ago spoke of a lady who had received the visits of a few officers of the 
army, and one of theni. Lieutenant Brooks, cowhided him severely for such 
liberty of the press. Other officers who have visited the same lady were 
in search of the editor, who, hearing of it went to the editor of the Picayune 
(New Orleans), to know what was the custom in Louisiana ; and Kendall 
frankly replied that sometimes they got a severe flogging. The Mexican 
Congress had not convened at last dates. Pena y Pena is the constitu- 
tional president. General Paredeos has raised the French flag at some dis- 
tance from this capital. Santa Anna has but few troops. General Scott has 
laid contributions on this place. I write to you on a sheet of paper captured 
in the national palace, giving you thereby a small relic of what is popularly 
termed the Hall of Montezumas. It is a blank commission. I wish, when 
you have any surplus papers, that you would direct them to me, as I have 
but little else now to interest me than the home news. Give my respects to 
my relatives and inquiring friends. Say to John Duncan that I will be 
glad to hear from him. 

T. J. JACKSON. 



71 

48 Vesey Street, New York, Sept. S, iSSo. 
To THE Chairman of Committee on Invitation, 

Mexican Veteran Association. 
Gentlemen : 

I have just received your kind invitation to attend a celebration of the 
Anniversary of the Taking of the City of Mexico, on the 14th inst. I regret 
to say I will not be able to attend on account of having to preside at our cele- 
bration on same day at Sea Beach Palace, Coney Island. 

The thoughts of the days of 1847 helps me to feel young again, and 
brings vividly to my mind the gay, rollicking little army that marched out of 
Puebla on that bright August morning (alas ! how many never to return), 
when General Scott left Puebla with his little army of 10,000 men to fight an 
army of 35,000 veteran troops of Mexico, in trenches, in mountain gorges, 
and fortified cities, surrounded by impassable marshes, our base, if we had 
any, hundred of miles away, we faced the men that had showed the quality 
of their mercy at Mier and the Alamo, We felt that defeat meant death, *Tis 
not becoming in soldiers to boast, but who, among all of you that will assem- 
ble on this glorious anniversary, will not straighten up and feel an inch taller 
when he says, " I was one of that little army," 

Where is there one whose eyes will not flash when the glorious 20th of 
August is mentioned ; when that little army fought five distinct battles — 
among them Contreras, San Antonio, Cherubusco, San Puebla. Then came 
the 8th of September, that proud but sorrowful day, where we lost 800 out 
of 4,000 engaged. Then came Chapultepec, and the crowning event — our 
flag waving over tlie National Palace. These memories are dear to us all, 
and I can think of no happier way of passing one day in the year than the 
old veterans meeting together and fighting their battles over again. 

Again I repeat, I am sincerely sorry that I will not be able to attend, but 
I hope the comrades who will meet that day will be as successful in their en- 
gagement as they were on that other 14th of September, ^;^ years ago, when 
the serpent flag was pulled down from the National Palace to make room 
for our own glorious stars and stripes. 

I trust those annual reunions will be continued, in order that the author- 
ities at Washington will keep in mind, and not forget, our claims ; as the 
small pittance asked for in the Pension Bill now before Congress would be 
a great relief to many of those of us who remain, and who have fought the 
battle of life up to this time, but who are now fast passing away. 

Hoping you will all have a good time, and remember me kindly to each 
and every one of the veterans, and wishing you health and prosperity, 
I remain, my dear old comrades, 

Yours very sincerely and lovingly, 

CHAS. J, MURPPIY, M;rshal, 



72 
Col. Patten, Col. Bailey and Capt. Morris. 



In connection with Gen. Shields I must mention another old comrade 
of the Mexican war, and a mutual friend, Col. W. A. Patten, a retired officer 
of the U. S. army, who was known as the poet of the army in Mexico, who 
so highly distinguished himself in all the battles under Gen. Scott, and par- 
ticularly in those before the City of Mexico, where he was fearfully wounded, 
one hand being shattered and torn to pieces. Three years ago the dear old 
gentleman came all the way from Houlton, Maine, on my invitation, and to 
meet Gen. Shields, my friend Gen. Thos. W. Sweeny, a hero of two wars, 
and able division commander during the Rebellion, Col. Wm. Linn Tidball, 
and other comrades, at our annual reunion, where he delivered an original 
poem, of which I copy two of the verses, on the " Battle of Cerro Gordo," 
where Gen. Shieldsis mentioned. I regret to say that only a few months ago 
I was informed of the Colonel's death. 

Cerro Gordo. 
Once more, descending from her airy hights, 
Upon another scence the music alights. 
'Twas after Cerro Gordo's dreadful day. 
That on the field a bleeding warrior lay : 
Fallen — but not in death — to live again 
Where war's red chariots skim the sanguine plain, 
Proving to all by his return to life. 
How Honor lives in and beyond the strife. 
Yes ! silent though on tented plain it lies. 
With all its seeming. Honor never dies ! 
When to its course, apparent close is given. 
It flies from Earth to find a home in Heaven. 
And who was he, the patriot and the brave. 
Who found a crimson bed — but not a grave ? 
With whom, while wandering from breast to breast. 
The soul of courage found a place to rest. 
In after years who fought in many fields ? 
Who but your war- scarred man — the veteran Shields. 

This brings to my mind Col. Patten's son-in-law. Col. Bailey, U. S. A., 
who commanded the First Regiment of N, Y. Artillery, and whom I knew 
well, and a more gallant officer never drew a sword. He was instantly 
killed at the battle of Fair Oaks, by a shot through the head, in the beginning 
of the attack. I remember accompanying his dead body, with that of his 



73 

Lieutenant-Colonel Van Valkenburg, also killed in same battle, to the White 
House on the Pamunky River. I will not soon forget the fearful onslaught 
the Confederates made on his artillery — they came down on the guns in 
hordes, like an avalanche — but our men stubbornly disputed every inch of 
ground with dogged persistency, and when nearly every one of his batteries 
were for the moment crushed like an egg shell by the mere weight of num- 
bers, the men afterwards recovered themselves — it was in this attack my 
friend Col. Bailey and his Lieutenant-Colonel were killed. 

While writing of incidents of the Mexican war I cannot forget the name 
of Capt. Morris, U. S. A., one of the bravest officers who served in that war, 
and was killed while gallantly leading his men to storm the Heights of Mon- 
terey. His body, together with those of Capts. Field and Williams, were 
sent on to New York, and were honored with a public funeral by the author- 
ities of the city. I am proud to know his son. Gen. Thomas F. Morris, a 
resident of Yonkers, now commanding one of the companies of the Old 
Guard of New York, and who ably commanded one of the finest regiments 
that ever left the city, and who so highly distinguished himself all through 
the war of the Rebellion, and to whom I am indebted for courteseys in con- 
nection with the Old Guards annual reunions. 



From the Boston Pilot. 

Colonel C. J. Murphy on Irish American Soldiers. 



48 Vesey St., New York, June ist, 1880. 

My Dear Mr. O'Reilly ; 

Enclosed you will please find my check on First National Bank, N, Y., 
for $25, and I wish with all my heart I could make it a hundred fold more, 
for who could withhold giving to the relief of our poor dear suffering brethren 
in unfortunate Ireland, after reading Mr. Redpath's (God bless him) heart- 
rending account of their terrible condition. I am glad our American peo- 
ple have done so well in this movement, and there is room to do more, for 
they are only repaying a debt of gratitude they owe the Irish people who 
poured out their blood like water on every battle field in our late war, in order 
that this nation might live. Who fought and won the last battle of the Re- 
bellion, Five Forks, which closed this fratricidal and unnatural war ? The 
son of an Irishman, Lieut-General Phil Sheridan, the [Murat of the Amer- 
ican Army. And there is the other Phil, the brave and gallant and ever to be 



74 

lamented one-armed hero, Major General Kearney, another son of an Irish- 
man, and, next to Sheridan, one of the greatest soldiers of the Union Army ; 
then the brave General Shields ; and, did space permit, how many more could 
be mentioned who freely gave up their lives. Among the number the heroic 
young Colonel Patrick E. O'Rourke, (who I knew well, and a finer fellow 
never lived) was killed while gallantly leading his regiment at Gettysburgh. 
And who is the ofiflcer Colonel Michie alludes to in this month's North Amer- 
ican Review^ as holding and maintaining his position of head of his class at 
West Point, and graduating number one, no higher honor in any military acad- 
emy in the world, and he the son of a poor Irishman ? 

The gallant Irish Brigade under Meagher, and the 26th Mass. and French's 
with the brave Quiney, who were sent on the run from the centre of our lines 
on the afternoon of June 27th, 1862, to stem the tide of rebel victory. Al- 
though broken and disorganized the gallant remnants of Genl. Porter's splen- 
did regiments formed in the rear of their rescuers, with cheers, presenting as 
bold a front as though they had uot been pounded and cut up by two days' 
terrible fighting. The onward rush of the rebel host was checked, and Por- 
ter's heroes retired beyond the Chickahominy at their leisure." I was on the 
field on that fearful occasion and was an eye witness to what I here relate. 

Can this country ever repay the debt of gratitude they owe the Irish 
race, and if they could only see them as I have in their own beautiful, but un- 
fortunate and ever faithful Green Isle, they would ^learn to appreciate them 
the more. I have traveled the world over ; have lived in Europe, Asia,North 
and South America, and Mexico, and no better people morally and intellectu- 
ally live on the face of the earth ; reno-wned for every virtue, generous and 
hospitable beyond comparison, ardent in their love of country and kindred, 
loyal to their faith, fast in their friendship, light-hearted and patient in afflic- 
tion, always ready and willing to share their scanty means, however small, 
with the stranger, faithful in all the relations of life, and good fellows to every 
one but themselves, — and such is the true Irish character. I am not Irish 
born, but am proud to be of that Spartan race, and my love and admiration 
for them know no bounds. 

CHARLES J. MURPPIY. 

I would like to ask right here, do the American people know that nearly 
one half of the officers and men who fought in the Revolutionary War were 
of Irish birth or extraction, for according to historys such is the fact, and the 
largest subscribers to the fund raised in Philadelphia in support of that war, 
were from the St. Patrick's Society of that city, who elected Gen. Washington 
an honorary member 



75 

Article from Boston Pilut, June ^th, i88o. 

A Brave Officer's Son Appointed to West Point. 



The Hon. Daniel O'Reilly, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has appointed Joseph 
Louis Murphy, son of Col. C. J. Murphy, of New York, to a cadetship at the 
Military Academy at West Point. Among New York merchants there is not 
one milder of manner or tenderer of heart than Col. Murphy, and yet there 
is probably not one man in the whole city who has been more daring in the 
perils of war, or who has undergone more terrible sufferings in its ups and 
downs than he. Long before the war for the Union, he was a soldier in Mex- 
ico, though but a boy in years, and of a peaceful and orderly disposition. 
When the rebellion broke out, he was one of the first in the field. In the dis- 
astrous battle of Bull Run, though a staff officer, he seized the musket of a 
man who had fallen, and fought in the ranks until his regiment was broken 
up and entirely dispersed. 

Of such stuff are good soldiers made ; and we are glad to see the stock 
preserved for the army of the Republic. We trust that the son of Col. Mur- 
phy will be as true and fearless when the Union flag is in danger, as was his 
father in the perilous campaign of 1861. 



Extracts from the Sunday Democrat of Loss of Steamer Rhode Island, November 14, 1880. 

" Hairbreadth escapes and valorous deeds, when told with candor and 
truthfulness, are full of interest at all times to the average reader. In the 
midst of a bloody war a heroic act claims the admiration of mankind, and is 
sure to reward the self-sacrificing individual by just recognition ; in a sinking 
ship what praise can be too high for one who casts personal safety aside to 
rescue and aid his fellow-creature ? Surely it was erroneous when it has been 
said that the days of chivalry are past, for in our own times and on recent oc- 
casions the most noble attributes of man have been fully shown. The wreck 
of the Sound steamer Rhode Island, when nearing Newport, at 3:30 o'clock 
on Saturday morning, Nov. 6th, is still fresh in the memory of our readers. 
Many of the passengers on that ill-fated boat, who on that dark and dreadful 
night enacted a brave and meritorious part, will not soon be forgotten by 
those whom they aided. 

Col. Charles J. Murphy, the wine merchant, of No. 48 Vesey street, 
whose story has been told briefly in connection with the accident, returned 
home a few days ago from a business trip to the principal cities of New Eng- 
land, and our reporter, eager to hear his narrative, sought out the soldier vet- 
eran. The Colonel's modesty at first debarred him from giving in detail an 
account of his bravery and coolness in assisting the passengers and quiet- 



76 

ing their fears ; but, after some perseverance, our scribe gleaned from him 
the following : 

Mr. Murphy is in the habit of making periodical trips to New England, 
not for pleasure, though some of his best and most cherished friends live in 
the old commonwealth of Massachusetts, but solely on business pursuits. On 
Friday evening, Nov, 5, from the North River, on the Rhode Island, he was 
one of the large number of passengers booked for Providence. All went well 
till 3:30 o'clock on Saturday morning, when suddenly a crash came and all 
was in a state of confusion and horror. The boat had 

STRUCK AGAINST BONNET ROCK, 

making a noise somewhat like the rumbling of a falling wall. The wood- 
work of the sleeping apartments creaked, and the passengers in many in- 
stances were violently thrown from their berths. In an instant all were 
running about wildly in their night clothes. A part of the wrecked vessel lay 
on the rock, while aft she Avas in the water. 

THE HOG FRAME SNAPPED IN TWO. 

I ventured to my stateroom to secure my baggage when the smoke-stack 
fell and the hog-frame snapped in two like a reed, which made such a terrible 
noise that I thought it was all over with us, and I made quick time to reach 
the forward deck, which I found had bulged up fearfully. 

THE LAST TO LEAVE THE BOAT. 

Mr. Murphy's experience in the Mexican and civil wars proved of ben- 
efit to the passengers, for he quieted their fears and helped them ashore, till 
none stood on the deck but himself. He was the last passenger to leave the 
now shattered floating palace, and many were the congratulations poured 
upon him by the rescued passengers as he stepped on terra firtna. What 
followed is well known. Every soul that boarded the Rhode Island at the 
company's pier at New York was miraculously saved, while the elegant and 
stately craft is a total wreck. 



At the close of the war my old regiment, the Seventh N. Y. S. M. (Na- 
tional Guard), gave a grand reception to those of its members who served Jn 
the war, and a magnificent affair it was. I append a copy of the invitation : 

Head-Quarters Seventh Regiment, 
National Guard S. N. Y., 

New York, December, 1865. 
Chas. J. Murphy. 

Colonel U. S. Volunteers. 
Dear Sir : 

Since the end of the Great Rebellion the Seventh Regiment has not ten- 
dered, publicly, to those who left its ranks and entered the regular and volun- 
teer service, a welcome home from the perils and hardships endured while de- 
fending the honor and integrity of the National Government. 

A cordial reception will be given them at the Academy of Music, on the 
evening of the 31st January, 1866, to which you are respectfully invited. 

Your old friends and comrades hope to meet you on that occasion, and 
there renew the bonds of friendship which have ever existed among the mem- 
bers of the " Seventh." 

Trusting that you will not fail to accept our hospitalities and honor us by 
your presence, 

I am, dear sir, 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

GEO. MAX SMITH, 
Chairman Committee on Invitations. 

I would say in conclusion in regard to the material of our armies during 
the war that in my opinion they were superior in every way to any army in 
Europe. I have travelled considerably abroad, and have been in nearly every 
country in the old world, but I have yet to see an army that will at all com- 
pare with ours. I was in France and England during the Crimean War, and 
attended the grand review^ at the Camp of St. Omer, in 1855 ; and the French 
soldiers did not begin to compare with ours in physique, celerity of movement, 
or precision in drill ; and I am sure there is not a regular regiment in the 
world that will at all compare with our 7th Regt. of N. Y. Militia. I had a 
conversation with my friend Genl. Sheridan soon after his return from the 
operations of the German army during the Franco-German War, and he ex- 
pressed a similar opinion, and he had a good opportunity of forming a correct 
judgment. 

I am glad to see that the authorities at Washington are not forgetting 
the soldiers to whom we are so much indebted for a government to-day, and 



78 

who sacrificed so much for the country and its free institutions when in such' 
great peril. 

The Arrears of Pension Bill was a just measure, and the government can 
not do too much for those who did their duty in that fearful struggle ; and 
in my opinion it is also the duty of the governiTient to give the preference 
(if all else are equal) of the public offices to the veterans of the war when 
found competent to fill them. 



Equality on the Battle Field. 



"When the strife is over and the dead and wounded lie together on the battle 
field, how it brings all men down to a level; no matter what their rank or former 
condition in life there is no distinction then. "The dead — how beautiful is 
the memory of the dead ; what a holy thing it is in the human heart ; what 
a chastening influence it has upon human life ; how it subdues all the harsh- 
ness that grows up within us in the daily intercourse with the world ; how it 
melts our unkindness and softens our pride, kindling our deepest love, and 
waking our brightest aspirations. In the camp and by the grave side, in soli- 
tude and among our comrades, think cheerfully and speak lov ingly of he 
dead." 



Gsnl. McDowell, and First Battle of Bull Run. 



In relation to this unfortunate affair would say that there was no better 
planned battle fought during the war, and no abler Genl. than McDowell, 
although, like Genl. Porter, often misrepresented and maligned by ignorant 
and prejudiced men. It is not generally known that Genl. McDowell was 
suffering from a most distressing and annoying complaint all day and night 
previous to that battle. My command was camped next to his headquarters, 
at Centreville, on the night before the battle, and being restless, and not hav- 
ing slept any, at day light I went over to headquarters, as I had a matter of 
importance to communicate to the Genl., and to my surprise found the only 
man on the ground who was up besides the cook, who was preparing break- 
fast, was Genl. McDowell himself. I expected to find all hands stirring, as 
it was on the eve of a great battle, and we were ordered to move very early 
that morning. I have since spoken with the General of that circumstance, 
and he informed me he was up most of the night, and suffering very much. 

We had won a decided victory in that battle up to about 3 o'clock in the 
afternoon, when the 12,000 fresh troops arrived under Johnson, by railroad, 
from Winchester, which turned the tide of battle in their favor, and no won- 



79 

der ; our men were ordered on the march at daylight, on that fearful hot 
July day, and were utterly exhausted by hard fighting at the time the ene- 
my's reinforcements reached the field. 

I feel sure that the result would have been the same under any other 
General, under similar circumstances, as no men could have fought better 
than ours did, fresh troops as they were, and very few ever in a battle before. 
How sad a sight it was to see at Beauregard's headquarters, a few day's after, 
nearly all our splendid artillery and thousands of muskets and other materi- 
al of war they had brought in from the field, and yet there appeared to be 
no exultation and am sure they considered it a hard bought victory. 



Extract from letter of Genl. Beauregard, giving his reasons for 
not pursuing our Army at Bull Run. 



I will first state tliat, though with General Joseph E. Johnston's consent 
I exercised the command during the battle, at its close, after I had ordered 
all the troops on the field in pursuit, I went personally to the Lewis House 
and relinquished that command to him. I then started at a gallop to take 
immediate charge of the pursuit on the Centerville turnpike, but was soon 
overtaken by a courier from Manassas, with a note addressed to me by Col. 
T. G. Rhett, of Gen. Johnston's staff, who had been left there in the morning 
to forward that general's troops as they might arrive by rail from Winchester. 
Colonel Rhett thereby informed me that a strong body of Federal troops had 
crossed the Bull Run at Union Mills ford, on our right, and was advancing 
on [Manassas, our depot of supplies, which had been necessarily left very- 
weakly guarded. I hurried back to the Lev^-is House to communicate this 
important dispatch to Gen. Johnston, and both of us believing the informa- 
tion to be authentic, I undertook to repair to the threatened quarter with 
Ewell's and Holmes' brigades, at that moment near the Lewis House,, where 
they had just arrived, too late to take part in the action. With these troops 
I engaged to attack the enemy vigorously before he could effect a lodgment 
on our side of Bull Run, but asked to be re-enforced as soon as practicable 
by such troops as could be spared from the Centerville pursuit. 

Having reached the near vicinity of Union Mills ford without meeting 
any enemy, I ascertained, to my surprise, that the reported hostile passage 
was a false alarm growing out of some movements of our own troops (a part 
of General D. R. Jones' brigade) who had been thrown across the run in the 
morning, pursuant to my offensive plan of operations for the day, and upon 
their return now to the south bank of the run were mistaken, through their 



80 

similarity' of uniform, for the Federa^.s. I returned to intercept the march of 
the^two brigades who were following me towards Union Mills, and as it was 
quite dark when I met them, and they were greatly jaded by their long march 
and countermarch during that hot July day, I directed them to halt and biv- 
vouac where they were. Hearing that President Davis and General Johnson 
had gone to Manassas, I returned and found them, between half-past 9 and 
10 o'clock, at my headquarters. This will explain to you why the partial 
"retrograde movement," to which you refer, was made, and why no sustained 
vigorous pursuit of McDowell's army was made that evening. 



I crave the reader's indulgence in this narrative, as I am not accustomed 
to this kind of work, and many mistakes in composition and in the printing 
will be found, as the writing was hurriedly done inside of a week during the 
night and the hours I could filch from an exacting business, in the hope that 
I could get it ready for the meeting of the present Congress. 

C. J. MURPHY 



3V77rl59 



t 
















,^'\ 


















































/ "^ "^^^iw^ J' %> ^'j^m^^ J'\ ^^JWS 






" o 






*o.o' ^^ *.,,. ^ O .„,o' 0'' 

FEB 76 ,'*.. .^^ ,« 







^^..c,^" 






A 





,0^"..^''* ^"^O. ** ^'^"^ o-"". ^ 






